One of the rare contemporary films that is fully deserving of the full ten out of ten! This is... is... I simply cannot describe it. Nobody makes films like this, and I wish more people would at least try to. On first viewing, I found myself having to adapt to a pace I am not used to in recent television-generation film-making; slow prolonged takes, all wide master shots (a single camera movement!), bizarre religious and political allegories reminiscent of Bergman and Tarkovsky... I've never compared a filmmaker with either of them, but I have to say those are who I was thinking of while I was watching this. The film is almost so surreal and contains so much dark comedy that I can't say that it is as touching or 'human' as either of their greatest films, but Andersson has crafted such a unique style that it's incomparable - and this statement sounds like a stretch but I am being completely sincere - with anything ever made. This will go down in history as one of the greatest films ever made. That is if history remembers him! This is the only one of his films widely available in the states, and I haven't met anyone who has seen it or has heard of him, I always seem to be the person introducing it to others. I think anyone with a remote interest in film or life itself would find this endlessly fascinating. He is so obscure and has made so few films, (plus he notoriously takes his sweet time to even get one off the ground), that it's not clear how many films he has left in him before he throws the towel in, seeing as the guys well over half a century old.... I'm not even going to bother with a synopsis here, I just finished watching it for the fortieth time, and I felt a compelling urge to praise it here!! Watch this now.
Review of Songs from the Second Floor
