From its premise, no one would blame you from dismissing Swiss Army Man.

We enter the story in media res. Hank (Paul Dano), our protagonist, has been stranded on a island in the Pacific. He’s out of food and hope. So he decides to end his life by hanging.

As he stands with his feet upon a cooler, his neck in a makeshift noose, he notices a body washed upon shore. He rushes to the body. The body, belonging to Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) appears to be dead. A moment of hope turned into yet another loss for Hank. And then, that body begins to fart. A lot.

…so much so that Hank can ride Manny to civilization, powered purely by flatuence.

That’s where we hit our credits and the adventure truly begins, a surreal combination of Weekend at Bernie’s and the Nintendo classic A Boy and His Blob. The results? One of the best films of the year.

Swiss Army Man is a movie about super-powered farts, the importance of poop, and boners that double as compasses. But at the same time, the movie is about love, life, sadness, relationships, the things we do when we’re alone, and how our deepest, darkest, saddest, weirdest thoughts define us as humans. It’s life affirming and completely stupid. It’s arguably the most original thing I’ve ever seen on film.

Written and directed by DANIELS (the name for the collective of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, best known for the video for Lil’ John’s “Turn Down for What"), Swiss Army Man is a surreal and dream-like film. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Larkin Seiple (Cop Car), the movie even has a musical vibe, with little songs hummed - or completely sang - by the cast turning into the score, a driving mixture of chants and instrumentation by Andy Hull and Robert McDowell of indie-rock band Manchester Orchestra. The movie goes at an incredible pace, with brilliant montages, surreal imagery, and some of the most frank converstations about life, love and what it truly means to be human I’ve ever seen on film. And it’s done with a probably insane man speaking to his best friend, a dead body.

I’ve honestly never seen a debut film so self assured, so smart, so brilliant and so odd. What DANIELS did here is remarkable, and now, hours removed from the theater, I keep replaying scenes and moments in my head. If you allow the weirdness to consume you, Swiss Army Man delivers.

Proper respect is to be paid to Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. If they didn’t sell their roles well enough, the entire film would fall apart. Yet, through his conversations with Manny, you understand how Hank ended up on that island. You understand what his life was. And with Radcliffe in particular, he makes a literal corpse an incredibly alive character. Who would’ve thought in the Harry Potter years that his work would be so odd and so captivating?

Every time I go to the movies, even with the trailers I watch and the stories I read, I look to be amazed, surprised and delighted. Swiss Army Man did that and more. Simply put, Swiss Army Man is why I go see movies. Highest possible recommendation.

Swiss Army Man is in theaters now, and is available for pre-order on iTunes.