While it falls squarely into the precious category of love-it-or-leave-it art-house oddities, the hypnotically absurd Swedish comedy Songs from the Second Floor is certainly unlike any other movie you've ever seen. That alone is reason to check it out, and many pleasures await those who are receptive to director Roy Andersson's conspicuously offbeat worldview, presented here as a series of marginally connected vignettes illustrating a bleak world that has literally ground to a halt. A perpetual traffic jam lurches through an urban landscape imbued with post-apocalyptic atmosphere, a ghost town populated by pale, shell-shocked citizens bereft of hope and teetering on the edge of collective madness. Characters and plot are nonexistent in any conventional sense; it's as if Andersson has cast himself as a detached God, gazing upon these lost souls from a distant remove, as if they were fish in a tank, lumbering through their oppressive city like zombies at the dead-end of civilization. Described by critic J. Hoberman as "slapstick Ingmar Bergman," this highly unusual film is certainly not for everyone, but if you're on its wavelength it's sure to prove unforgettably amusing. --Jeff Shannon

I "borrowed" this description from Amazon because I didn't know how to put this film into words, and Shannon hit the nail on the head. On the dvd case a quote says this is "like a Bergman film as realized by Monty Python." I love MP so I snatched it up and settled in for some good laughs. As it turns out this isn't my style of humor. There were a couple of Pythonish gags but for the most part it was just plain... bland. I can't say not to watch it because some of you may find the humor and artistic value in this film, but for the average Joe like myself is was a total waste of money and time.

I don't understand how movies like this receive such raving reviews. :confused:

I don't understand how movies like this receive such raving reviews. :confused:

A smug sense of superiority I suppose.