2007 comedyRating: 18/20
Plot: A collection of despairing people wade through the absurdity of every day life. Sometimes, they dream.
Now here's a hilarious zombie movie! There's no traditional narrative here, so this would likely frustrate a lot of viewers. But for the sleepy and adventurous, this is a treat. You, the Living is made up of 40-50 vignettes, snippets of lives that will either make you laugh while you feel like crying or cry while you feel like laughing. These barely-connected somnambulistic characters who weave in and out of these abbreviated visual jokes really are like zombies, wandering lifelessly, suffocating under the weight of a gray blanket of despair. But in a hilarious way! The version of humanity that Roy Andersson displays is one whose wooden dance floors have been walked upon by both muddy shoes and muddy feet. And visually? I can't remember a movie I was this impressed by visually. Roy Andersson's camera doesn't move (OK, it does move twice, but only a little bit) during these single-shot snippets. There's very little movement on the screen. In fact, there's a scene where something is boiling on a stove, and the steam rising from the pot almost seems inappropriate, like things are starting to get a little too crazy. But the movie's never boring. Most of that is because Andersson frequently hits you with something entirely unexpected, like a weird-looking character who wanders into the scene. And you can pause this at any time and have something on your television screen that looks like it belongs in a museum, probably one of those museums that would hang up an empty frame and call it art. This is one of my favorite movie experiences in a long time, and if I still took pictures of myself watching movies, you'd get to see a gigantic goofy grin that I had on my face during the entire film. An hilarious ode to hopelessness, a visual essay on life's little ironies, a collection of one-panel comic strips. Hot damn! I loved this movie bunches!
And now for something completely different... if only Python was this consistently enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIf we watch three movies, we would agree on one, not care about one, and completely disagree about the other. To be honest, when I saw your review, grade, and description, I fully expected this to be the latter. I was wrong. This film is delightful (who is more shocked, you or me?).
This is like the anti-"Star Trek". No super attractive, charismatic characters to pull for (no main character at all, in fact). No big action scenes or special effects. No big budget. No fancy camerawork. But it all works wonderfully. This should be taught in film schools to show what can be done with a small budget and a great sense of humor.
Nearly every scene is a little gem that tickles in some way. The static camera made me watch this movie more than any I can ever remember. There's a bit of funny tucked into the unlikeliest corners (my ONLY complaint would be the very ambiguous final scene). You feel like you are in these sets in a very tactile way. You feel the rain. Your eyes are drawn to the guy in the background or the frowning woman standing nearby because you NEVER know what is going to happen. You notice the depth of the room or what the furniture is made of. For a few minutes I even wanted to live in Scandanavia, until I noticed how unhealthy almost everyone looked.
Much of the humor is like a silent comedy while once in a while someone says something hilarious (love the honest psychologist). This movie is about people interacting with each other, often driving each other nuts, and is universally recognizable. What makes watching someone pound on his ceiling to make the upstairs tuba player knock it off funny? Watching someone watching them from across the street. Genius.
This is tongue-in-cheek humor with quiet set-ups with many, many little payoffs. One might be disappointed if they went in with big expectations (the opposite of me), but this is great and totally unique filmmaking and a great recommendation by Shane. Thanks. A 17.
Ahh. I'm very happy you liked this, and I really enjoyed reading what you had to say about it. I kind of figured you would appreciate it and maybe not love it like I did.
ReplyDeleteThe Python reference is interesting. Makes sense, I guess. So does the anti-"Star Trek" probably.
This is almost a movie that I nearly watched again the next day so that I could make Jen watch it. I still might grab it again soon, so she can see it. I think she'll like it ok.
The only other Roy Andersson movie I've seen is 'Songs from the Second Floor' which I liked much more the second time I saw it (I watched it on a first floor)...the style is very similar but there are less scenes and, I guess, kind of a main character. Darkly humorous stuff though.
I halfway typed up something about 'Time after Time' but I actually took notes on it and for some reason took and left them at school. So you'll have to wait for that one.