Songs from the Second Floor (2002)

Singular Swedish film about society in decay. It's essentially a series of vignettes, some loosely connected to each other and some free-standing, and it manages to be both morose and strangely funny, like if Ingmar Bergman and Monty Python had written a screenplay together (and let Tsai Ming-Liang film it). Impeccably filmed and designed, scaborously funny and also more than a bit emotionally overwhelming; occasionally tiresome and/or alienating as well, but that's bound to happen when a film is so idiosyncratic as this one. Can't wait to see what Roy Andersson comes up with next (though, considering this film took four years to complete, I'll probably have to wait quite a while).

Grade: B+