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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Songs from the Second Floor
New Yorker Films


7.0

based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström, Sten Andersson, Rolando Núñez, Lucio Vucina, and Per Jörnelius

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

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Roy Andersson
DIRECTED BY:	Roy Andersson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 23, 2004 Video: March 23, 2004 Theatrical: July 3, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	98 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Denmark / Norway / Sweden
LANGUAGE(S):	Swedish (with English subtitles)

Original Swedish title "Sånger från andra våningen"; Winner (tie), Special Jury Prize, 2000 Cannes Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A collision at the intersection of farce and tragedy--the apocalypse as a joke on us.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

In place of a conventional plot, this utterly unique Swedish movie offers a series of related episodes -- Some are funny, some are tragic, all are dreamlike and unpredictable, suggesting that the 21st century will be a lot weirder and wackier than we expect.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Want to see something strange, funny, twisted, brilliant and macabre? Sure you do.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A brilliant, absurd collection of vignettes that, in their own idiosyncratic way, sum up the strange horror of life in the new millennium.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

"Songs" is a delight. It's a visual feast and often hilarious.

TV Guide Ken Fox

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.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A heartbreakingly thoughtful minor classic, the work of a genuine and singular artist.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Often seems more old-fashioned than modern.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

A devastating indictment of unbridled greed and materalism, made all the more relevant by the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film is depressive, slow, darkly funny, unyielding in its formal rigor, and unsettlingly beautiful. It's obviously not for everyone, but only because not everyone can meet its stare.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The film is like an Ingmar Bergman movie as realized by Monty Python: It's seriously gloomy about the loss of spirituality in the world, but at the same time rudely, sometimes hilariously, absurd.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Though the laughs in Songs From The Second Floor tend to stick in the throat, they're also cathartic and oddly comforting, because the world outside the movie theater is bound to look cheerier than the one on the screen.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

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.

Variety Derek Elley

Rapidly wears out its welcome after the first few reels to finish up as a perplexing objet d'art.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kevin C. gave it a9:
Pays off if you put some effort into it. Explore, think, dream - every scene becomes more alive the more energy you invest into it. If you're having trouble getting started, skim through the director's commentary to start getting a grasp on some of the metaphors and symbolic imagery. The film is amusing, interesting and baffling on the surface - very rewarding if you did deeper.

John C. gave it a 1:
Occasionally absurdly humorous. There was probablyan underlying message, but there was very little effort to show how the many disconnected scenes related to the message. Too uninvolving to make a deeper exploration worthwhile. A gem for fans of aesthetic weirdness ala Eraserhead.

Little Crow gave it a 6:
Interesting movie, delicious subtle humor, fabulously satirical, and I would say that I liked it, but even so I felt like I had to force myself to finish watching it. It felt much longer than it really was.

Jack gave it a 9:
If you have patience, it's a very odd and fantastic experience.

Carl gave it a 0:
This is probably the most pretentious and overrated movie of all time. It's so boring it's almost unwatchable, and there's not one good actor in the movie and all the dialogue is stupid. Avoid this movie at all costs.

Chris G. gave it a 10:
Fantastic, but don't go and see it wasted ha.

Songs from the Second Floor New Yorker Films

Songs from the Second Floor
New Yorker Films