Songs from the Second Floor

Of the 11 films I saw at this years Vancouver International Film Festival, this was one of the best. Definitely not a film for the masses, but if you're tired of seeing so-so hollywood formula and you and don't mind a shot of bizarre, then this is the film for you. I doubt it will come back for a commercial run, as it is not the kind of film the multiplex crowd would appreciate. If, however, like me, you are a fan of Terry Gilliam and don't mind a slower pace, there is much to recommend this film. Made up of a series of short vignettes, some related and some not, it weaves a story of apocalyptic chaos. A story some of us were expecting to happen Jan.1,2000.

The unmoving camera stares into the lives of a society on the brink. Maybe ours in the near future. A movie that will demand discussion afterwards.A bomb shelter in the blighted landscape of Californication.

SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR is honestly one of the best films I have seen so far in my years of cinematic appreciation. Alice, below, nailed it in her analysis, and there's little I can add that would be useful. I also agree with the critics who compared it to what would happen if Monty Python set their sights on Bergman. The film is both a character study and a meditation on humanity, filled with transcendent moments of beauty that left me completely stunned. It is also a biting satire of corporate greed and its effects on society, and the search for hope in a dying, empty world filled with people who've basically given up. SONGS is a great film that everybody should see.

Possibly incomprehensible to those who have never lived in Sweden, where whole hours somehow manage to lose themselves in a meditative calm that exists nowhere else. Songs from the Second Floor is truly Ingemar Bergman meets Monty Python, as Roy Andersson non too gently deflates the pretentious, the pompous and the self important. The sparse dialogue and hugely tongue-in-cheek solemnity will either offend the spectator to the point of rage, or scratch the itch that nothing else quite reaches. I adored it. Like raw oysters, broccoli or goat milk - you'll either connect with the Roy Andersson brand of iconoclastic insanity and love this one ... or you'll hate it with a passion. There'll be no fence-sitting with this Nordic treasure.

This film won the prestigious Cannes Film Festival award in 2000, and it is indeed very well made. But damn, it's not what you'd want to take someone to on a date. Unless they have odd tastes.

Songs is a kind of allegorical black comedy about capitalism and the brutalising effects of modern society. The cast is mainly depressed middle-aged men in bad suits and there are multiple storylines and little scenes that all add up to one big condemnation of the Western world: a man who hasn't missed a day in 14 years and decides to go to work rather than have sex with his wife, then gets fired. A poet/taxi driver driven insane by the misery around him. His father, who burnt down his store for the insurance and spends most of the film covered in soot. You get the picture.

The film is full of powerful symbols, like a heap of cheap plastic Christs being thrown onto a rubbish heap, or the eternal traffic jam, and moments of absurdity that made me laugh out loud, such as when the Swedish high command gather to honour a retired commander who is so senile his bedpan gets emptied while they give him a speech. But the even the humour is bleak - there isn't a single happy moment in this film. Frankly I didn't buy it. Life may sometimes be dull, bad things do happen to good people, capitalism can suck, but it just isn't that awful. Forgive me for getting lyrical, but life is too full of hope and friendship and beauty to get sucked down in to this grey, dreary view of the world.

RATING: 7/10

I would just like to say that, those who don´t like this movie must have a heart of stone and a mind that´s so blocked that you can´t see the connections to our society and the ways of man. Our loneliness, our longing for love, our inability to communicate. This film broke my heart, but at the same time it was a wholesome experience, and I was glued to the screen for as long as it lasted. I will never forget the pictures from this film, they still linger inside of me. It´s just so beautiful.

I recommend everyone to see this film! If you´re prepared for an inner journey.(And I know that some people are afraid of this kind of "deep" stuff)Not if you just want entertainment for the moment. If you want to see an action-loaded flick or a nice love comedy instead, fine, do so. But I say: If you´ll only see one and only one more film in your life, see this one!