You, the Living
2007 ‘Du levande’ Directed by Roy Andersson
Synopsis
You, the Living is a film about humankind, its greatness and its baseness, joy and sorrow, its self-confidence and anxiety, its desire to love and be loved.
Cast
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Like all of Roy Andersson's films, this one is massively underrated and truly spectacular. Little more than a series of vignettes shot on expensive, custom built sets, the stories give a look into a world of cold, emotionless death, where the film's characters seem stuck in an eternal damnation of mundane repetition. Though not quite as good as Songs from the Second Floor, this great film has many flashes of true auteur craftsmanship, such as the famous dream sequence in which a newly married couple are greeted by hundreds of adoring fans as they depart for their new life together. But of course, this is only just a dream.
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Absolutely brilliant. Roy Andersson's second instalment in an as-yet-unfinished trilogy is equally as powerful, grim and darkly funny as its predecessor, Songs from the Second Floor. Among the chaos in this understated, quiet but silently cynical masterwork: a man is given the death penalty... for breaking antique china. A tuba player complains in a grim tone that the bank is overcharging him, while a fat woman makes loud, naked, sweaty love to him. A business meeting is so grim and boring that one man collapses dead to the floor. These are only some of the many highlights to this beautiful, dark film from Andersson, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors.
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A procession of sad sack underdogs from all walks of life, carefully colour coordinated and arranged in a series of almost motionless tableaux, live out moments from their lives. They all want happiness or security in some form or another but it's always just out of reach.
There's a surface similarity to the films of Aki Kaurismaki and, in the meticulously constructed city sets, to Jacques Tati's Playtime. There's no obliviously iconoclastic M Hulot ploughing through it all and leaving chaos in his wake though, and no sign of that light at the end of the tunnel that Kaurismaki allows his characters. The hopes and dreams of these people don't amount to a hill of beans in Andersson's crazy world…
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Roy Andersson is some kind of insane genius. This was my first experience of his style and it has totally blown me away.
His carefully constructed mise-en-scene makes every single shot a work of art as he points his camera at the absurdity of the realities of modern life. So many times I found myself laughing hysterically at what ordinarily might be considered horribly sad events and I think that is the true genius behind this film.
Andersson's humour and insight will certainly further reward repeat viewings, something I intend to do myself in the very near future.
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A totally unique film that blends surrealism reminiscent of Michel Gondry with the dryly humorous adsurdism of Monty Python and David Lynch while being something else entirely original, Roy Andersson's YOU, THE LIVING isn't for everyone, but every time I watch this beautifully strange movie I am totally transported.
Taking place during a single day in an unnamed Swedish city, the film focuses on several unrelated characters facing various dilemmas both big and small, whose lives are often connected in surprising and unexpected ways. Some of the "short stories" are poignant (the old lady in the nursing home, the dignitary who receives an upsetting phone call at a party from his troubled son), but many are hilarious and surprising. The…
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Lovely colouring and staging.
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I couldn't get into this at all, it's a collection of slice of life combined with fantasy. Some are amusing, some interesting but for the most part it feels like someone though of a bunch of scenes they would like to see that shared a theme of the beauty of life in the mundane, and then put all those scenes together and called it a master piece and since it's Roy Anderson and it's 'international cinema' no one disagrees... well I do, I liked parts but on the whole I found it pretentious.
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So quirky.
I wish I was patrician enough to be able to appreciate films, such as this one, fully. ;_;
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A procession of sad sack underdogs from all walks of life, carefully colour coordinated and arranged in a series of almost motionless tableaux, live out moments from their lives. They all want happiness or security in some form or another but it's always just out of reach.
There's a surface similarity to the films of Aki Kaurismaki and, in the meticulously constructed city sets, to Jacques Tati's Playtime. There's no obliviously iconoclastic M Hulot ploughing through it all and leaving chaos in his wake though, and no sign of that light at the end of the tunnel that Kaurismaki allows his characters. The hopes and dreams of these people don't amount to a hill of beans in Andersson's crazy world…
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A totally unique film that blends surrealism reminiscent of Michel Gondry with the dryly humorous adsurdism of Monty Python and David Lynch while being something else entirely original, Roy Andersson's YOU, THE LIVING isn't for everyone, but every time I watch this beautifully strange movie I am totally transported.
Taking place during a single day in an unnamed Swedish city, the film focuses on several unrelated characters facing various dilemmas both big and small, whose lives are often connected in surprising and unexpected ways. Some of the "short stories" are poignant (the old lady in the nursing home, the dignitary who receives an upsetting phone call at a party from his troubled son), but many are hilarious and surprising. The…
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Roy Andersson is some kind of insane genius. This was my first experience of his style and it has totally blown me away.
His carefully constructed mise-en-scene makes every single shot a work of art as he points his camera at the absurdity of the realities of modern life. So many times I found myself laughing hysterically at what ordinarily might be considered horribly sad events and I think that is the true genius behind this film.
Andersson's humour and insight will certainly further reward repeat viewings, something I intend to do myself in the very near future.
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No se exactamente que fue lo que me hizo amar "You, the Living". Quizas fue su singular sentido del humor, o la manera en que retrata lo absurdo que puede ser la vida cotidiana. Esta cinta, de origen sueca, es probablemente una de las peliculas mas raras que he visto; mas que nada porque es una serie de escenas de docenas de personajes sin una narrativa especifica. Y, sin embargo, la suma de las historias si acumulan a algo memorable y hasta, me atrevo a decir, profundo.
"You, the Living" es una cinta muy original y artistica, que en su particular manera, dice algo sobre la condicion humana. Es de las mejores peliculas del año. -
Need to rewatch this one
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Existence displayed on a barren stage, monotonous hues hinting at boredom, a town that connects 20 players or so, somewhat loosely but never dull, the low-toned sounds humming the theme of nonentity and a languid montage of 50 vignettes with tragic-comedic murmurs. These are us, which is You, the Living - a film that fills the soul and makes you chuckle quiescently. - MW
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Fleetingly amusing series of vignettes about how "Nobody understands!". It does however feature a fantastically joyous scene (the dream sequence), that rivals that incredible accordian scene from Holy Motors.
A mixed bag.