It’s sad that it’s taken me this long to watch a Roy Andersson film – I’d always been intrigued by Songs From The Second Floor when it came out. But life is sad, y’know, and why not start with the last of the ‘trilogy’ that includes Songs and You, The Living. From what I gather, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (2014), is in the same aesthetic that Andersson is recognised for: unbroken master shots on detailed tableaus with pasty, deathly looking people, mainly made up of non-actors. Scenes that are deadpan and surreal, and very funny, while intermingled with beautiful and terrible moments. With Pigeon Sat On A Branch, there’s no major narrative, it is a series of scenes with some characters that reappear and build on what came before. The most memorable being two middle aged men, Sam (Nils Westblom) and Jonathan (Holger Andersson), who shuffle from business to business selling novelty joke items like vampire teeth or the grotesque ‘Uncle One Tooth’ mask. There’s something about the more sensitive of the pair, Jonathan, his pitiful crying that happens constantly, which is pathetic, hilarious, mundane, and moving, all at the same time. I really liked the flow of the film and its use of stillness for comic and thoughtful effect. It is art-house with a capital A in the way that the movie works like a series of living paintings, yet it also feels open and relatable – well, like a novelty pair of vampire teeth. Streaming on Kanopy. Recommended.
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