Songs from the Second Floor
Songs from the Second Floor Image
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Composed of a series of immaculately staged tableaux, Songs From the Second Floor is a stylized black comedy-turned-nightmare. (Film Forum)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    A collision at the intersection of farce and tragedy--the apocalypse as a joke on us.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    80
    A heartbreakingly thoughtful minor classic, the work of a genuine and singular artist.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    80
    Andersson creates a world that's at once surreal and disturbingly familiar; absurd, yet tremendously sad. The haunting score is by ABBA's Benny Andersson.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    30
    Despite some deadpan, Jacques Tati-like orchestration and occasional sight gags, there's no real pleasure in the game -- Songs From the Second Floor is more absurd than funny.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. JoeT
    10
    Spookily brilliant. An odd, sad satire composed of several surreal vignettes, shot with a static camera. Roy Andersson, the director, imbues the film with a ludicrous, unique sense of dark humor. His early career was spent directing TV commercials, and here he lampoons consumerism with a bleak vengeance. I read somewhere (wish I could remember) a description of his lastest film, You, The Living, as a combination of the Far Side and a Luis Bunuel film. That's a perfect description for a perfect film.… Expand

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