LIKE an arthouse version of Weekend at Bernie’s, Swiss Army Man is about a lost soul...and his dead friend.

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s film is offbeat, quirky and peculiar and frankly you will probably have a hard time getting your head around it at first.

But the most important bit of advice I can give about this 90 minute convention defying experience is stick with it.

It may feature a flatulent corpse who can fire rocks from his mouth like a machine gun.

But just beneath the surface is a warm, insightful and sweet story about loneliness and despair and the natural tonics for that: friendship, hope, love.

The film is subject to all kinds of interpretations and more is revealed about the true nature of events as you go along.

But the plot, on face value, is that Hank (There Will Be Blood’s Paul Dano) is stranded on an island.

He is about to give up hope of ever being able to return to the woman of his dreams when the body of a man called Manny washes up on the beach.

Hank befriends Manny (Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe) who slowly starts coming back to life in weird and wonderful ways.

It is a joy to watch Dano and Radcliffe who both put in incredible performances.

You can tell they loved making this film about human vulnerability, the important connections we make with others and the little things in life that keep us going.

Dano’s expressive style of acting is perfect for the hysteric underdog Hank and Radcliffe somehow breathes life into Manny’s contorted body and dead eyes.

Swiss Army Man is also very funny in a crude kind of way and Kwan and Scheinert’s film is wildly inventive. It is not for everyone – where some viewers laugh, others will be shocked

But stick with it and a story unfolds that keeps you thinking long after the credits roll. With its idiosyncratic charm it is destined to become a cult classic.

RATING: 8/10