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I used to work in a grocery store deli. Most of the customers would be regulars, coming daily to get the same half-pound portions of meats, cheeses, and salads. As time went on, you began to learn the little quirks for each one; Some were kind, some were funny, some were rude, but most were simply trying to get their food and go. Regardless, I was a part of their routine as much as they were a part of mine, and for as mind-bogglingly pointless as the job felt, for many it was the only excuse they had for any kind of social interaction.

One lady in particular always stood out to me. She always came a couple hours before…

3

is it wednesday, already?

(masterpiece)

4

My daughter, under the weather on a Sunday morning, stumbles out of her bedroom and lays across the couch, her head resting on my leg.

"What are you watching?"

The puzzled look on her face when I responded with the full title was priceless.

"A movie called A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence."

As soon as I answered, I knew what game I was about to play. It's a common one for an 8 year old, even one who has already been exposed to as much bizarre cinema as she has. It's the take a title literally game.

"Oh, so it's about a pigeon on a branch?"

To be fair, this isn't a game that is only…

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ Liked

... Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Cue existential crisis.]

7

I was not familiar with Roy Andersson’s works but A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence seemed to be an intriguing and unique film so I decided to give it a try. I must say it was a really painful watch unfortunately. Despite giving a couple of chuckles from time to time, the humor just didn’t work for me and it almost looked like there was no progression to the story at all. I appreciate the social commentary the director makes on occasion but there are plenty of completely random, disconnected and repetitive scenes that just made me feel even more distant towards the film.

1

And then it was Wednesday again.

I don't get it. But I was interminably bored. At one point it cut to black, and I thought, "oh, thank fuck, it's over", but then it cut to a monkey being electrocuted, writhing in pain. The monkey was me.

1

I’m happy to hear you’re doing fine

I was overjoyed to find this film!! Interesting titles always capture my attention so I was intrigued from the get go. Speaking of the title, I learned it’s a reference to a painting called The Hunters in the Snow hm. 

The film depicts these amazing tableaux through an absurdist, surrealist, episodic format. All the scenes are connected but there’s no storyline. I know that sounds off, but trust me. Most often, I was confused how we got from one scene to the next, but eventually, it does not really matter; it’s about the films focus on interesting ideas relating to the human condition. It works for me, but I think you either love…

10

There's a scene early on in A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (wow what a mouthful) where a man collapses to his death while checking out his lunch in a cafeteria. It's incredibly droll and the staff are already there, and during this discussion the cashier brings up the question of his lunch:

"What do we do with this now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's already paid."

"Good question."

This is essentially a capsule of Pigeon as a whole, a study in how small problems are paid more attention than large ones. I think director Roy Andersson is interested in the isolating effects of society, as demonstrated in this farcical scenario. Officials are presiding over a…

2

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the dryest of comedies, so deadpan as to be lifeless. The always still camera is purely neutral, capturing everything without any ion. Never has beige and grey being so visually tactile. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence finds all its beauty in drab dullness. This is a film of cinematic mastery, with slow takes that draw out a purity of vision. Roy Andersson finds the absurdity in normality, then dials up the absurd foreground and enhances the dull background. Personally I prefer Andersson's You, the Living, which had a few lively elements. This is dryer and colder, and has more of a plot. But still, what a perfectly pure experience.

2015 Ranked

11

NZIFF 2015 - Film #1/6

I can't write about this. A bunch of sad people on screen who know a lot of happier people (not on screen). See it with an audience, in a cinema, it helps. Funny and laughable - until all of a sudden in a genius centrepiece sequence involving many many horses - it's just not. It becomes devastating.

And then, it's Wednesday again.

Review by 𝑅𝑜𝑛シ︎ ★★★★½ Liked

Nothing Ever Happens....

A man dies whilst trying to open a bottle of wine. Shots of aquavit are handed out in a bar in exchange for kisses. A young couple lie together on a beach, accompanied by a dog. The owner of a delicatessen addresses the camera from the steps to his shop as his co-worker ridicules him from inside.

These short, unrelated stories capture Roy Andersson’s 2014 film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence perfectly.

With a film that’s more a series of lusciously framed and often surreal vignettes than one concerned with any real kind of plot, it’s enticing to just chronicle these images one by one, to take stock and try to believe what…

5

Action!: Anderson, Anderson, Anderson…. Andersson? – Roy's Offbeat Swede Detour

And so we have not only arrived to the end of a trilogy that has been a complete revelation, in many ways changing me as a cinephile and inspiring me through his ever creative ways of satirizing society, always with new random ideas and new aesthetics that has you wonder “where the hell this man gets this new ideas?!”.

I liked there seems to be a connected story as that gives much of a narrative sense to the movie through these inept old thieves trying to pull a robbery with a few running gags that, while they get old very soon, it still pretty funny. This one, more than the…