Daniels

Daniels are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

This absurdist film-making duo may hide their deep philosophical genius behind a smokescreen of bro-ness and potty humour but don’t be fooled, there’s nothing stupid about their work. Well, no that’s not true, there’s plenty of stupid stuff but it’s the right sort of stupid - the sort of stupid that’s sublime.

Take Interesting Ball, a fast-cutting, beautifully produced and utterly ridiculous short film in which a series of bonkers events are linked by a red ball that bounces through the shots. A man gets sucked into his best friend’s bum when a gag goes wrong, a bunch of bros on the beach turn into a massive transformer and squash a girl by mistake, a grieving lady’s fridge breaks free and runs down the street while she screams down the phone at a juvenile prank caller, an unlikely couple in a cafe have a metaphysical breakup, and a woman has extramarital sex with a red ball. The film ratchets up into a gorgeous crescendo of insanity with a surging score as every scene escalates out of control in a mania that is perfectly summed up by one of the beach bros’ doleful exclamation: ‘How did things get so fucked up so quick?’ It’s crazy, but it makes complete sense in an infinite universe where anything can happen. Interesting Ball is hands down the best short film I have ever seen. Watch it:

Now that you’ve watched it I’m sure you’ll share in my excitement about the first feature film by Daniels, Swiss Army Man starring Daniel Radcliffe as a flatulent corpse (props to Radcliffe! I have so much respect for that guy now.) Swiss Army Man won a Sundance Award last month despite being one of the most controversial films in the festival and the most walked out on. I guess some people just don’t like fart jokes. But if this film is anything like their shorts it will be on the surface a film full of toilet humour, but on closer look a beautiful love song, a nostalgic treatise on friendship, a heartrending eulogy, and a comment on the universe.

I can’t wait for it to come to the UK. No idea when that will be if/when but when they announce it, I'll update this entry.