SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
"... it's a combination of Bergman and Feydeau. Or for those of us
with pop sensibilities, Jacques Tati as rendered by 'The Far Side'
cartoonist, Gary Larson...The movie eschews conventional narrative,
choosing to build, in discrete episodes, on the horrifyingly hilarious
revelation that Fate rolls into everyone...Mr. Andersson understands
the membrane-thick line between comedy and pathos... a heartbreakingly
thoughtful minor classic, the work of a genuine and singular artist."
--Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times
"Forget everything you know about current mainstream cinema. Forget
plot or storytelling. Think back to Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali
or Jean-Luc Godard with a dash of Terry Gilliam thrown in. Take that,
refrigerate it until it's cold and blue, then add some goofy, odd
elevator-type music, and you've got 'Songs From the Second Floor'...
seems to be asking us point-blank, 'If the world is so grim, what's
the reason you get up in the morning?' I believe I've only scratched
the surface of this bizarre, complex, hilarious and highly artificial
film. The reasons for living are numerous and not something we tend
to think about daily. That alone makes 'Songs From the Second Floor'
a valuable and rare movie experience." --Jeffrey M. Anderson, San
Francisco Examiner
"Swedish director Roy Andersson's 'Songs From the Second Floor' is
his first feature since 1975...Whether the wait was worth it depends
on your tolerance for this unique brand of filmmaking...The setting
is a nameless European city that has fallen into panic and chaos as
the result of some unexplained economic crisis...a devastating indictment
of unbridled greed and materalism, made all the more relevant by the
Enron and WorldCom scandals." --V.A. Musetto, The New York Post
"The most highly acclaimed Swedish art film in recent memory, Roy
Andersson's supremely crafted, millennium-pegged 'Songs From the Second
Floor' harks back to the glory days of Scando-spiritual anguish, but
with a difference. This is slapstick Ingmar Bergman--wacky yet depressing
...Every aspect of 'Songs From the Second Floor' bespeaks precision
and control. Andersson uses a wide-angle lens and eschews close-ups;
he favors one-shot scenes and only once in the entire movie does he
move his camera...Easier to respect than enthuse over, Andersson's
rigorous personal vision is not only distanced but distancing." --J.
Hoberman, The Village Voice
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