You the Living directed by Roy Andersson seems to be a quirky satire on the life of all human beings. The best words to describe this movie is humorous, quirky, odd, unique. I have never seen a film quite like this in my life. The combination of filming style and segmented story line make this an interesting film for a particular audience. This is definitely not a film for the average audience.
This film has a unique way of following various random stories to portray the events of life in a unique way, so much so the movie is almost hard to keep track of. Most of the scenes portray everyday normal events of real life including emotional distress, depression, relationships, shopping for rugs, the troubles of old age, young love, and traffic.
There are two particular examples that are particularly enlightening to ways society is a little screwed up. The first illuminates how many people in society can take things way too far and worry about things that don't matter. In this scene a man commits a "crime" that isn't really even a crime and is sentenced to death. The whole court room wants him to die, and for no particular reason. The beautiful part about many of these scenes is that people can interpret them in many different ways, taking similar or different things from them without really being wrong. Another way this seen could be interpreted is as a joke on the justice systems around the world. This man get's sentenced with swift and unanimous action, in the real world justice is never this quick, instead of minutes it can take months even years of slow deliberation. A quote from this trial is, " Gross negligence is the worst crime punishable by death". This quote itself could provide the viewer with many thoughts on its satirical value on society.
Scenes like this occur throughout the whole movie and are constantly keeping the viewer's minds on their toes, and active. With these insightful scenes comes a lot of humor. Each scene is intended to provide a laugh to accompany its intellectual purpose. An example of this awkward humor is a scene where a virtually anorexic man is having sex with a large woman. This scene lasts a few awkward minutes of complaining about life on the man's end and interestingly placed moans on the woman's end. This scene again gives the viewer an opportunity to interpret the meaning.
Another thing that really makes this film unique is how it is filmed. All but one of the scenes are filmed from a standing still tripod. This is a different way to film a movie but I think it works in this case, especially when you realize how important each detail of the scene is. The importance to the detail and the background is illuminated right from the beginning. There is a scene when a man is having an argument with his wife and in the background you can see characters from a previous scene, one playing a tuba, and another couple trying to make him stop from below. I feel like I could watch this movie ten times over and notice something new each time. The problem is I don't know if I would want to watch it ten times over. On a movie critic level, I'm sure it's loved, on a normal person level, it really isn't all that entertaining.
One of the finals theme could be particularly interesting for American's since we do love our celebrities so much. The theme plays on the nonexistence of privacy for people, especially celebrities, and our shear absurd adoration for celebrities. The nonexistence of privacy comes from the moving house that is surrounded by people as soon as it enters the city. The adoration for celebrities and celebrity couples is scene by the no basis love for a good guitar player and the general publics happiness for their love.
I think the theme above, as well as many other themes make this film appeal to a wide range of people all over the world not just the Nordic countries. The film addresses aspects of life that can be applied universally to all parts of the world.
Overall, this film is odd but intellectual, and can keep the viewer engaged throughout. Those people who like filming and cinematography well also have a lot to enjoy, appreciate, and analyze. Those who don't really like to think while watching a movie and enjoy a little odd humor, can also enjoy this film, but for those who don't like odd humor and don't want to think, just want to be entertained, I would not recommend this film.
This film has a unique way of following various random stories to portray the events of life in a unique way, so much so the movie is almost hard to keep track of. Most of the scenes portray everyday normal events of real life including emotional distress, depression, relationships, shopping for rugs, the troubles of old age, young love, and traffic.
There are two particular examples that are particularly enlightening to ways society is a little screwed up. The first illuminates how many people in society can take things way too far and worry about things that don't matter. In this scene a man commits a "crime" that isn't really even a crime and is sentenced to death. The whole court room wants him to die, and for no particular reason. The beautiful part about many of these scenes is that people can interpret them in many different ways, taking similar or different things from them without really being wrong. Another way this seen could be interpreted is as a joke on the justice systems around the world. This man get's sentenced with swift and unanimous action, in the real world justice is never this quick, instead of minutes it can take months even years of slow deliberation. A quote from this trial is, " Gross negligence is the worst crime punishable by death". This quote itself could provide the viewer with many thoughts on its satirical value on society.
Scenes like this occur throughout the whole movie and are constantly keeping the viewer's minds on their toes, and active. With these insightful scenes comes a lot of humor. Each scene is intended to provide a laugh to accompany its intellectual purpose. An example of this awkward humor is a scene where a virtually anorexic man is having sex with a large woman. This scene lasts a few awkward minutes of complaining about life on the man's end and interestingly placed moans on the woman's end. This scene again gives the viewer an opportunity to interpret the meaning.
Another thing that really makes this film unique is how it is filmed. All but one of the scenes are filmed from a standing still tripod. This is a different way to film a movie but I think it works in this case, especially when you realize how important each detail of the scene is. The importance to the detail and the background is illuminated right from the beginning. There is a scene when a man is having an argument with his wife and in the background you can see characters from a previous scene, one playing a tuba, and another couple trying to make him stop from below. I feel like I could watch this movie ten times over and notice something new each time. The problem is I don't know if I would want to watch it ten times over. On a movie critic level, I'm sure it's loved, on a normal person level, it really isn't all that entertaining.
One of the finals theme could be particularly interesting for American's since we do love our celebrities so much. The theme plays on the nonexistence of privacy for people, especially celebrities, and our shear absurd adoration for celebrities. The nonexistence of privacy comes from the moving house that is surrounded by people as soon as it enters the city. The adoration for celebrities and celebrity couples is scene by the no basis love for a good guitar player and the general publics happiness for their love.
I think the theme above, as well as many other themes make this film appeal to a wide range of people all over the world not just the Nordic countries. The film addresses aspects of life that can be applied universally to all parts of the world.
Overall, this film is odd but intellectual, and can keep the viewer engaged throughout. Those people who like filming and cinematography well also have a lot to enjoy, appreciate, and analyze. Those who don't really like to think while watching a movie and enjoy a little odd humor, can also enjoy this film, but for those who don't like odd humor and don't want to think, just want to be entertained, I would not recommend this film.
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