Songs from the Second Floor

Making my way through Andersson’s back catalogue out of sequence, but it’s interesting how so far each film seems to be in conversation with the others, and all share such similar styles that you could chop and change any segment in one with the others. Unique amongst any film-maker I can recall is Andersson’s ability to dead-pan a joke, get a full laugh out of it, but also leave you feeling genuinely wistful and sad (though the push off the plank is kind of a brilliant bit of bleak humour, especially the snuffed out scream). As Jschlansky rightly puts it, “if you enjoy one, you are likely to the others” – it’s such a rare and particular style that’s off-putting at first, but becomes more and more endearing the more familiar you become with it. A strong recommend on that basis.