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Songs from the Second Floor

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Songs from the Second Floor
BERJAYA
Original Swedish poster
Directed byRoy Andersson
Written byRoy Andersson
Produced byLisa Alwert
Roy Andersson
Philippe Bober
Sanne Glæsel
Johan Mardell
StarringLars Nordh
Stefan Larsson
Bengt C.W. Carlsson
Torbjörn Fahlström
Sten Andersson
CinematographyIstván Borbás
Jesper Klevenas
Robert Komarek
Edited byRoy Andersson
Music byBenny Andersson
Release dates
  • May 2000 (2000-05) (Cannes)
  • October 6, 2000 (2000-10-06) (Sweden)
Running time
98 minutes
CountriesSweden
Norway
Denmark
LanguageSwedish
Budget$5.5 million[1]

Songs from the Second Floor (Swedish: Sånger från andra våningen) is a Swedish black comedy-drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 6 October 2000,[2] written and directed by Roy Andersson. It presents a series of disconnected vignettes that together interrogate aspects of modern life. It uses quotations from the work of Peruvian poet César Vallejo as a recurring motif. The film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 73rd Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

It is the first film in a trilogy, followed by You, the Living (2007) and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014).

Plot

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The film is composed of various loosely connected vignettes. It follows a numerous characters during a city-wide, unending traffic jam with no clear cause. Stock brokers whipping each-other are filling up the streets. A businessman is fired and pleads for his job. A furniture salesman burns down his business for insurance money, and one of his sons, a poet, has been institutionalized. Shortly after deciding to try selling crucifixes, the furniture salesman starts being followed by ghosts, one of whom died during Nazi occupation of Russia. Meanwhile, a senile general is celebrated on his 100th birthday and makes a Nazi salute. A magician accidentally injures a volunteer with a saw. An economist, desperate for a solution to the problem of work becoming too expensive. The economist, along with clergy, push a young girl off a cliff in front of a large crowd hoping it will fix their problems, but it does not seem to help. Hundreds of businessmen push carts overburdened with luggage and golf clubs to the airport. Outside the city, the furniture salesman discards his unsold crucifixes. He's approached by dozens of ghosts, including the sacrificed young girl, and he begs them to leave him be.

Cast

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Reception

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Critical response

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Film critic J. Hoberman from The Village Voice concluded about the film: "Easier to respect than enthuse over, Andersson's rigorous personal vision is not only distanced but distancing."[3] Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and wrote, "You may not enjoy it but you will not forget it."[4] Anton Bitel, writing for Eye for Film, felt that "the heavy symbolism overwhelms the storytelling."[5]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an 89% approval rating, based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[5] On Metacritic, the film was given a score of 76 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]

The film is featured in "Ari's Adventures in Moviegoing", a collection of films on the Criterion Channel that were handpicked by Ari Aster, director of Midsommar (2019) and other horror films. Aster states that he saw this film in the theater with his mother at the age of 14, and states that the impact of this film on him was "seismic", citing the film as a major influence.[7]

Awards and nominations

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Wins

Nominations

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "The New Cult Canon: Songs From The Second Floor". Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Sånger från andra våningen" (in Swedish). Swedish Film Database. 6 October 2000. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Hoberman, J. (2002-06-02) "Suspended Animation"
  4. ↑ rogerebert.com, "Songs from the Second Floor". Accessed October 3, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Rotten Tomatoes Songs from the Second Floor (2002)". Accessed May 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Metacritic "Songs from the Second Floor". Accessed December 27, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Songs from the Second Floor". The Criterion Channel. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  8. 1 2 "Festival de Cannes: Songs from the Second Floor". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
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