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Songs from the Second Floor (2000)

Songs from the Second Floor (2000)

An unforgettable, if bleak and perplexing, black comedy anthology about modern day living

7.5

Movie

Denmark, Norway
Russian, Swedish
Comedy, Drama
2000
ROY ANDERSSON
Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Lars Nordh, Rolando Núñez
99 min

TLDR

I don’t even know what to say, guys. I just wanna stop contemplating today’s horrors.

What it's about

Through a series of forty six vignettes, quotes from Peruvian poet César Vallejo, and an unnamed gray city in modern day Sweden, everything goes wrong for the city’s inhabitants.

The take

We’ve seen anthology films with three, four, sometimes even five parts, but Songs from the Second Floor comprises forty six separate vignettes, quickly shifting in and out without any connecting thread inbetween, except for the dull gray color palette. Yet, even as the film abruptly transitions between vignettes, from tanning beds, construction sites, cars, trains, or buildings, writer-director Roy Andersson crafts meticulously framed breakdowns of modern day living, some of which works based on individual experiences, but all coming together as several miniature portraits of how absurd and depressing our lives have become. Songs from the Second Floor is a bold way to return after a twenty five year hiatus.

What stands out

Everything?

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