WatchSeeLookView Month - Swedish Double Bill

The film based theme keeps on a-rolling into Day Two so there’s still every chance this could be ditched as a theme in favour of your usual random selection of drivel. Today’s choice is going full-on arthouse. It even has subtitles and everything (well, unless you’re Swedish or fluent in Swedish, that is, in which case you probably don’t need them). In fact, “choices” is the more appropriate word as there are two of them.

You, The Living (2007)
Dir. Roy Andersson / Dur. 95 mins

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (2014)
Dir. Roy Andersson / Dur. 101 mins

Ooh, two for the price of one today. Yes, this does decrease the potential number of blog posts but they are similar thematically and stylistically so it makes sense to review them together.

In A Nutshell:- Both films present an odd and offbeat series of vignettes exploring existence.

The Good:- If you like your films deadpan then they don’t come much more deadpan than this. Very similar in style with A Pigeon.. Having maybe slightly more of a narrative thread (and we are talking only very slightly here), these two films are composed of a series of vignettes highlighting slices of life from an odd selection of characters. The films utilise mostly non-actors or actors more used to non-starring roles (with some exceptions) and are sometimes linked, sometimes not. A lot of time, it’s a slice of humour so dry that it’s hard to tell if it is even amusing or not but I like odd, offbeat stuff so this was right up my particular deadpan alley.*

The Bad:- There were some segments that definitely outstayed their welcome and began to try my patience but, with a film like this, if you wait it out, another fresh vignette will be just around the corner.

The Verdict:- Overall, I enjoyed both of these - the off-kilter style; the stilted and occasionally repetitive dialogue; the random talking to the camera. Are they for everyone? No, I’d say that they’re an acquired taste but if you like strange low-key Swedish anthology films then these are definitely worth checking out.

Tomorrow:- It’s still film month so more film stuff. That’s how themes work, y’know.


* Deadpan Alley sounds more like a sort of 1930s hard-boiled detective yarn starring Johnny Excitement and Lola Vavoom but I’m gonna stick with it now.