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      Songs From the Second Floor

      Released Jul 3, 2002 1 hr. 37 min. Drama List
      89% 35 Reviews Tomatometer 90% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score 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 an error in his act. In the midst of this mayhem, one person stands out: Karl. 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... Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Courtney K gosh; another one i just could not get through. it's either not my jam or i just wasn't in the mood. i wanted to fall asleep almost immediately. maybe if you stick it out something cool happens, but all i caught was a bunch of sad people being depressed. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/30/23 Full Review jordan m This reminded me a lot of Deadmau5. Dude wears an absurd mouse costume throughout his performances and he's obviously highly skilled, but his music (and this movie) just did not hit the spot for me. I was fully engrossed for the entire first half but toward the end the novelty had worn off and the quality of the jokes had reduced to a point where when the credits rolled I was glad it was over. The filmmaking style was unique and unforgettable enough that I'm equally glad that I did see it, but knowing that this is the first part of a trilogy has me quite worried that the next two installments will not be very interesting. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The dark gloom of the new millennium focuses on the irrelevance of Jesus and society's lost, directionless, macabre search for meaning and salvation without religion. The palette is grey throughout and it is depressing but also amusing in places in its absurdism. Not one I'll want to watch again because it's just too glib even if it was well made. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Andersson's strange and haunting comedy recalls Tati and Samuel Beckett. The comic tone threads throughout but it becomes clearer that this is allegory: the pallor and bleached production design, the religious symbolism, the mystery of where events are taking place, the locked-off camera, the black comedy of life itself and its essential meaninglessness. Ingmar Bergman, meet Buster Keaton. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The static camera and interesting figures as well as the different setpieces that appear without warning succeed in engaging and surprising. Andersson has put a lot of good ideas into this film, resulting in several resonant, interesting as well as funny moments. Nevertheless, I felt that the apathy permeating the film outstayed its welcome, given that the point was already clear pretty early on. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Carlo R Un hombre grita a su hijo mientras à (C)ste recita un poema a su hermano que pareciera totalmente insensible a cualquier estímulo, al mismo tiempo que el furioso encargado de un hospital despoja de su bata a un mï¿ 1/2 (C)dico y le pregunta: "What kind of nonsese is this?" La misma pregunta me formulo una y otra vez mientras miro la película. Irónicamente, en la aparente carencia de sentido de este filme, se encuentra su secreto. Andersson es dueño de un estilo muy particular. Elementos surrealistas, humor satírico y situaciones absurdas. Un ritmo sumamente pausado, pero que contribuye al estilo. Esta cinta termina por convertirse en un curioso ejercicio de excentricidad que se vale de una trama poco frecuente y personalidades atípicas para permitirse explorar la naturaleza humana. Si existe un espacio en donde convive lo extravagante, con lo simbólico, el performance y lo ridículo, entonces esta película tiene su lugar. A pesar del intenso trasfondo psicológico y filosófico de la película, no podemos pasar por alto las virtudes tï¿ 1/2 (C)cnicas que quedan en evidencia a lo largo del filme Como ejemplo tenemos el interesante trabajo fotográfico que evita la mayor parte del tiempo los primeros y medios planos, así como la notable capacidad de Andersson para dirigir una gran cantidad de actores de manera simultánea y en situaciones poco comunes. Si bien la película resulta sumamente simbólica e interesante, conforme pasa el tiempo, termina por ahogarse en su propio estilo, llegando al punto en que los últimos minutos del filme parecieran ser simplemente una serie de sketches donde la lentitud y la extrañeza son los protagonistas. Es una película con una enorme cantidad de elementos a analizar y un estilo peculiar, sin embargo su premisa y la manera en la que maneja dichos elementos la convierten en una cinta de difícil asimilación y con una falta de balance que al final resulta inevitable. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/12/19 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Songs From the Second Floor

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      Critics Reviews

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      Michael Booth Denver Post Let your literal, linear self take a chance on Songs From the Second Floor. Andersson is a philosopher with a brilliant eye for composing his ideas on the big screen. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 23, 2004 Full Review Liam Lacey Globe and Mail Like an Ingmar Bergman movie as realized by Monty Python: It's seriously gloomy about the loss of spirituality in the world, but at the same time rudely, sometimes hilariously, absurd. Rated: 3/4 Apr 25, 2003 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times You may not enjoy it but you will not forget it. Rated: 4/4 Nov 1, 2002 Full Review Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm ...feels like the world's last whimper. Rated: 4/4 May 11, 2016 Full Review John A. Nesbit Old School Reviews like Bergman approaching Swedish fatalism using Gary Larson's Far Side humor in a script acted by the Monty Python troop Rated: B Feb 15, 2012 Full Review Anton Bitel Eye for Film the everyday apocalypse envisaged in Songs From The Second Floor is a wonder to behold, an idiosyncratic humanist allegory without parallel in cinema - unless, of course, you include Andersson's equally astonishing follow-up You, The Living (2007) Mar 24, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis 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 an error in his act. In the midst of this mayhem, one person stands out: Karl. 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...
      Director
      Roy Andersson
      Screenwriter
      Roy Andersson
      Distributor
      New Yorker Films
      Production Co
      Nordisk Film & TV-Fond
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      Swedish
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jul 3, 2002, Original
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $72.8K
      Aspect Ratio
      Flat (1.85:1)