So after watching Everything Everywhere All at Once, I looked up the directors, “Daniels”, and saw that they had previously directed one other feature film. So I went to watch it, figuring that it probably wasn’t going to be as good, but that it must be reasonably good.

And it is! Tonally it’s not quite as coherent as Everything, but it’s got that same kind of “you’re laughing, because it’s funny; but underneath that, you’re almost crying, because it’s actually deeply touching; but underneath that, you’re laughing because it’s absurd to be touched by the thing that’s touching; but then underneath that you feel like you should accept the absurdity as true and meaningful and let go of that ironic distance” thing going on.

Like, as the story starts, our protagonist is stuck on a deserted island in the ocean, and is about to hang himself; but a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) washes ashore, and it keeps farting, and the farts end up distracting the guy from his plans, whereupon an absurd miracle occurs.

Where the movie goes from there, I won’t spoil; it’s a brisk 90 minutes, and it moves along quickly with humor and action and sentiment. It’s not as tightly composed as Everything, and has elements and themes that don’t quite come together in the end. But there’s still a lot here worth watching, and it’s definitely not like anything else you’ve ever seen. Recommended.