GRADE: 10
The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
Original Title: Sånger från andra våningen
Director: Roy Andersson
Country of Origin: Sweden | Norway | Denmark
Thoughts:
A unique, visually unforgettable black comedy about a capitalist society of the alienated and/or deceased. The scenes are shot as painterly tableaux, with enormous depth of field: though the camera is largely static, the orchestrated movement of the players from near to deep field keeps things moving. The “characters,” such as they are, all suffer from a modernist malaise that keeps them caught in the gears of the economic powers that be. They search in vain for the most basic kinds of meaning, connection, or understanding and invariably come up short. The film is heavy, but with a satirical, irreverent touch that finds absurdity and irony even in its bleakest moments.
It takes a special kind of person to create a film about humanity from a perspective this wide-angled. Ranks up there with Bergman, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, and Resnais.