Actor(s): Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström, Sten Andersson
Director(s): Roy Andersson
Publisher: New Yorker Video
Binding: DVD
Language(s): English, Swedish
EAN: 9781567303377
ISBN: 1567303374
Studio: New Yorker Video
Movie Description
While it falls squarely into the precious category of love-it-or-leave-it art-house oddities, the hypnotically absurd Swedish comedy Songs from the Second Floor is certainly unlike any other movie you've ever seen. That alone is reason to check it out, and many pleasures await those who are receptive to director Roy Andersson's conspicuously offbeat worldview, presented here as a series of marginally connected vignettes illustrating a bleak world that has literally ground to a halt. A perpetual traffic jam lurches through an urban landscape imbued with post-apocalyptic atmosphere, a ghost town populated by pale, shell-shocked citizens bereft of hope and teetering on the edge of collective madness. Characters and plot are nonexistent in any conventional sense; it's as if Andersson has cast himself as a detached God, gazing upon these lost souls from a distant remove, as if they were fish in a tank, lumbering through their oppressive city like zombies at the dead-end of civilization. Described by critic J. Hoberman as "slapstick Ingmar Bergman," this highly unusual film is certainly not for everyone, but if you're on its wavelength it's sure to prove unforgettably amusing. --Jeff Shannon
One evening somewhere in our hemisphere, a strange series of illogical events take place: a clerk is made redundant in a degrading manner; a lost immigrant is violently attacked in a busy street; a magician makes a terrible error in his act¦sleep on this night does not come easily to the citizens of this town.
The following day, the signs of chaos are taking hold as the madness grips a board of directors and the city itself is strangled by a horrendous traffic jam. In the midst of this mayhem, one person stands out: Karl - covered in soot from the fire he had set to burn down his furniture store in order to get the insurance money.
While the new millennium is casting its web and creating a vast mental breakdown, Karl gradually becomes conscious of the absurdity of the world and realizes just how difficult it is to be human.
About halfway through watching this Swedish gem, something inside me thought, "Wow. You will absolutely never see anything else like this." Songs from the Second Floor is an abstract meditation on the human condition that's loosely based on a poem by Peruvian poet Csar Vallejo. This is a very quiet, unadorned film: the camera moves in a scene only once in the entire movie, and the scenes themselves are set in the most mundane of places: sidewalks, apartment bedrooms, train stations, bars. But these ordinary surroundings are punctuated with borderline absurd occurrences: A passerby gets stabbed for speaking with the wrong accent. A salesman sells oversized Crucifix statues but decides that's not where the real money is. Self-flagellating stock brokers move like a herd through the streets while an economist looks for answers in a crystal ball about the problem of work getting too expensive. Some of these strange vignettes work better than others, but all of them ring with a striking sadness about moving forward through life without all the proper pieces in place. It's hard to describe this movie accurately and without making it sound ridiculous, but afterward I felt like I'd seen something truly singular and special - and, despite the stark sadness of the themes, I still felt optimistic at the movie's end. Watch it with a glass of wine and an open mind.
"Satisfied customer"
Written By: Boston Burbs (West)
Gave as a gift. Was packaged appropriately. Arrived in good condition (undamaged). I opted for priority shipping - it arrived in the time expected. Recipient told me that it was indeed a new DVD, was in USA format as described, that he had no trouble playing it. Would do business with this vendor again.
""To think you can make money on a crucified loser!""
Written By: Boryana
"It seems the whole town is on the road. Everyone going the same direction. Makes you wonder...where they are headed...the people." These are the words of a homeless man searching through a garbage pile who offers some of the bread he has found to a stranger. Meanwhile paranoid Kalle desperately tries to improve his livelihood...to "put food on the table, enjoy himself"; poets go mad; and tradesmen cannot sell the crucified Jesus. Government officials base their decisions on a gypsy fortuneteller and sacrifice a child to appease "the fate." Sounds absurd so far? There is more. People are stuck in a perpetual traffic jam with thousands dragging themselves on the streets. At first I thought they were flogging themselves, but actually they are whipping the backs of the people in front of them. And all this on a gray industrial background. The saddest thing is none of it looked absurd, but rather familiar. Try to get hold of this movie if you can.
"Songs From the Second Floor"
Written By: John Farr
Embedded somewhere in Andersson's mind-boggling, deadpan "Songs" is a satire aimed at religion, politics, careerism, and the terrifying emptiness of office life. Imagine an Ingmar Bergman film directed by David Lynch and you have some inkling of just how surreal this exercise in gloomy comic absurdity gets. Swedish director Andersson might be giving us a glimpse of society's end, especially with his haunting final shot, but his razor-sharp sense of humor make these Nordic "Songs" more than a one-note adventure in Kafkaesque futility.
"Swedes can be funny, too...."
Written By: Grigory's Girl
I remember seeing a preview of this film on Ebert and Roeper's show, and the clip they showed was so mesmerzing and unique (it reminded me of Fellini) that I kept an eye out for it (for the record, Roger and Richard recommended the film highly). It finally appeared about six months later, and I went with great enthusiasm. The film exceeded my expectations expotentially. The audience for the film looked a little bit conservative at first, but after the film started, they were rolling in the aisles and no one left. This is a truly amazing piece of work.
It's alternately sad, funny, sacreligious, and beautiful. It's filmed in brilliantly choreographed long takes (where the camera is usually stationary, but the detail of the framing is immaculate). Many have called this a cross between Ingmar Bergman and Monty Python. I would toss in a little Luis Bunuel, and that's an approximation of this film. It's a very dark film, but it's also darkly hilarious, and every scene is so incredibly well done that the whole film burns into your brain. The director, Roy Andersson, has only made a handful of feature films, but he is extremely well known in the advertising world for his hilarious commercials (which are done in the style in this film). There are so many great scenes, but my favorite scenes have to be the scenes with Christ (especially when a Jesus figure is swinging from the cross...it's hysterical and so incredibly sacreligious). The church is the main target of a lot of the satire here, but the film goes further than just "the church is greedy and corrupt" message that permeates many films today. Politicians and humanity in general are other notable targets. This is a great film, one of the most unique that I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a lot of films).
"Blessed are those who sit."
