You won't be disappointed!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

No film has captured the essence and opulence of existence like You, the Living a 2007 Swedish film written and directed by Roy Andersson. You, the Living cuts to the core of what it means to be human and the existential dread that plagues society. The characters portrayed are everyday people each with their own caricatured personality trait that makes them identifiable as plagued by some facet of the human condition. The composition of the film is masterfully accomplished with a finesse and style that exemplifies the brilliance of Roy Andersson as a director. Arguably the most prominently apparent theme is that of existentialism. The opening sequence immediately sets the tone of the film with the lamentations of a middle-aged woman who tearfully proclaims that nobody loves her to the dismay of her boyfriend. She rejects his condolences and even shuns the love of her dog. Despite her boyfriend's attempts to console her and assure her that things are not as bad as she believes them to be, she is determined to be miserable. As her boyfriend stalks off she sings a song about how a motorcycle would make her happy to the tune of a swinging jazz band. Her requirement for material possessions in order to be happy is a fundamental flaw that pervades modern society. As the film progresses it introduces a carpenter who is executed for botching a magic trick, a pickpocket who robs a pompous wealthy man, a psychiatrist who has given up on counselling people and now just prescribes pills, a girl who dreams of marrying her rock star idol, and a couple dwelling on an argument throughout the day. The profound discontent of the portrayed people is framed by the juxtaposition of the psychiatrist's monologue. The immense unhappiness exhibited by each of the characters is clearly self-inflicted; they fail to recognize and appreciate everything they have going for them.The sets in the film are bleak and minimalist, almost devoid of colour, in order to draw attention to the lives of the characters. The vast emptiness and geometric simplicity of the scenes is a visualization of the way the discontented characters view their world. Andersson's consideration and removal of all distractions from the core of the piece make the message of the film that much more clear. Furthermore, the stationary camera shots and complete lack of any sort of change in perspective during a scene is nigh unique amongst mainstream films. Consequently, every aspect of every scenes is focused on the characters. The camera work combined with the washed out colours gives the audience the perspective of a third party observer with the exact same outlook on life as the characters portrayed. When combining the cinematographic styling and the lack of any sort of plot to speak of the film takes on a sort of breadth of humanity discourse. Roy Andersson goes a step further than just a discursive portrayal of self-inflicted human suffering. In a brilliant series of cuts Andersson shows each character stop their daily routine of feeling sorry for themselves as they look to the sky. What is a common sign for a search for redemption in American film becomes a dark and poignant scene when the film cuts to a shot from above the wing of a bomber flying over the city. The miserable lives of the characters is symbolically brought to an end illustrating Andersson's resentment of the pitiful and self-absorbed lifestyle that was rampant throughout the film.You, the Living is a masterfully rendered machination of Roy Andersson. His control of the creative process engenders a complete and unified work that at its core thrusts at a single point and never wavers. You, the Living is a film that forces viewers to think about the manner in which they live their lives. The lifestyles portrayed in the film are rejected as unfulfilling and proposes that instead we enjoy and appreciate as the title card suggests "Therefore rejoice, you, the living, in your lovely warm bed, until Lethe's cold wave wets your fleeing foot."

I've been wracking my brain to figure out a good comparison in popular media to Roy Andersson's dark comedy You, the Living or Du Levande (2007). The best parallel I can draw is to Tom Wilson's comic strip Ziggy. If you are familiar with the comic, it revolves around a rather mundane little man, Ziggy, who always winds up being the butt of his own jokes. Luckily, Wilson's comic only appears once a week and is four short newspaper frames at most. You, the Living sadly perseveres for an hour and a half.The film is made up of dozens of vignettes. Some are very brief glimpses while others last uncomfortably too long. Almost every scene is taken in a single shot with a wide angle, with the camera positioned in one spot. Occasionally there are slow zooms, or pans that shift so slowly that the viewer is unsure whether the camera is actually moving or if they are just becoming drowsy from staring so long at an unchanging scene. I have never seen anything filmed like this before, with so few shots and perspectives. Most filmmakers try to engage the audience with diverse composition; this felt more like I was watching a play because of the static angle. It also had a theatrical quality because of the set. I found the set to be very pleasing to the eye. It reminded me a lot of Wes Anderson's films because everything in it seemed very deliberate, like it was in exactly the right place. This contrasted with the subject matter; the majority of characters were disheveled and were going through existential crises. They seemed not to belong to the pristine world of this elaborately constructed set. Many of the vignettes began with a character breaking the fourth wall and addressing the viewer, "Last night I had a dream," and the set successfully created the dreamy quality that many of the characters described. Andersson used colors that were very bright, vibrant shades and vibrant, but they were all washed out shades and seemed to be watered down. The fact that this film took place in contemporary time in an urban setting (an imitation of Stockholm) but all of the scenery was designed also added to the dreamy quality in which you know that you are in a specific place but it is different for some reason than the way you know it in reality.Though it was aesthetically well put together, when it comes down to it, I think this is a film that you'll either love or hate. I happened to hate it. It had aspects of the absurd in which there were scenes that could certainly happen, but they never actually would because they are far out. All of the characters were caricatures whose actions were disgruntling. They found themselves in awkward situations which were laughable and pathetic. It was like Family Guy because it was so stupid that I felt bad laughing, though that is not the strongest comparison because that humor is slapstick, whereas Andersson makes you cringe and chuckle at other people's misery. Usually, what began as humorous lasted half a minute too long, leaving me as a viewer anticipating the next bizarre event, tapping feet hoping to escape the current misery. Andersson admits that he has an expressionist influence, which I saw come through in this piece. The film was not so much plot driven as theme driven. It never focused on one character for too long but would switch between characters whose lives vaguely intersected. If any take away from You, the Living it would be, "when something is bad, it can only get worse." In one of the early scenes, a man is practicing the tuba in his apartment. It cuts to the man in the apartment below, frustrated with the noise bleeding through the ceiling. He bangs a broom against the ceiling to signal the tuba player to stop, but his broom banging ends up knocking down his chandelier. This pretty much sums up the "heads you win, tails I lose" motif. You don't get to really learn any intricacies of the characters. Instead they are all seen as one dimensional and are defined by a certain type of action rather than as multi-faceted. There is no passion for any of them, and ultimately, you don't really care that they are in miserable predicaments because none of them have depth. This is ultimately a very bleak film and even if you find it more amusing than I did, it will likely still leave you disheartened.

**This may contain spoilers**Roy Andersson presents viewers with a film of unconventional content. Lacking the traditional plot and list of main characters, You, the Living is a commentary on life's ups, downs, success and struggles as told through 50 some-odd "mini stories". Each scene, while simplistic and short, speaks to a different aspect of human nature. Each scene is simple in part because a single, static camera angle is used. Every scene in You, the Living uses a straight on camera angle. This single camera angle focuses audience's right into the heart of the scene. There is no jerking or nauseating camera movement to be distracted by. The static camera angle also prevents from the audience seeing any close ups of the actors. This makes the whole film seem somewhat distant and makes the characters hard to become emotionally attached to. Furthermore, each scene is adorned with simple props. Only what is necessary to the message of the scene is incorporated. With that said, Andersson also uses the scenery and props in order to bring some continuity to the film. For example, the same amateur band is seen playing in the background during several scenes and the same bar is used as a location. Lastly, almost every scene uses the same, bright, artificial lighting. The lighting has a tendency to wash out the colors and make the film have a uniform, muted color palate. Although You, the Living commentates on many different aspects of life and human nature, there seem to be two major unifying themes in the film. The first one, life goes on, is presented right from the start of the film. Mia, a "miserable wench on a bench" wails that no one understands her. While she lingers on the idea that she was happy yesterday but is not today, the man with her points out that that was yesterday, in the past. His advice to her invokes the importance of being present in our lives here and today. Similarly, later on the film, audiences are prompted to remember that tomorrow is another day and to try and recall good memories when life gets tough. The second unifying theme is to be kind to everyone you met. You never know when someone has been fighting with their loved ones, dealing with complex emotions or just hasn't had anything go right for them that day. Although our interactions with strangers are just a fraction of our days and lives, how we conduct ourselves in the presence of that person can have a huge impact on their day and life. With that said, You, the Living reminds us to live in comradeship with our fellow human beings. What I particularly enjoyed about this film was the little bits of subtle humor mixed in. The messages of each scene are quiet serious and deep but have little elements which make it funny. For example, the large and "biker tough" couple in one of the opening scenes have a tiny, little, fluffy dog which contradicts the "biker tough" image portrayed otherwise. In another scene, when a man is being unjustly punished by death with the electric chair for breaking 200 year old china, the "victims" are watching the execution and enjoying buckets of popcorn. Only a keen and observant eye will pick up on the subtle humor of the popcorn. I believe Andersson was using these sprinklings of humor to portray two ideas to audiences. The first is to really pay attention. By really focusing and paying attention in life you will pick up on so much more and get more enjoyment out of life. Secondly, the little bits of humor remind audiences not to take life too seriously and to find humor in every situation. In all I really enjoyed Roy Andersson's You, the Living. I believe the film would have benefited from cutting out a few scenes in order to shorten it and be able to keep audiences engaged more. By the last 20 minutes of the movie I was getting tired of the individual scenes and somewhat randomness of the film. While I really enjoyed this film, I believe it takes two or three sittings to really get all of messages and ideas Andersson is trying to portray. It takes some time to get used to the randomness of individual scenes and to get a sense of his style and overall themes. If I knew my friend was patient and a critical and reflective thinker than I would definitely recommend this film. I would, though, have to keep in mind the style of the film and the personality of the friend when considering a recommendation.

The Swedish film is billed as a comedic meditation, but for me it was just too arty, cold and a study from a warped artistic mind. There are apparently 50 ironic vignettes in this film, whereby a mainly muted story made from rolling scenes of uncomfortable nonsense combines visions of bored individuals, with a link to musical instruments. The film could be interpreted as deep, meaningful and different but most will see it for the art for arts sake tripe study of expression that makes art so subjective and personal. Be in the mood, for enlightenment, and see what you can draw from this piece of film.Here, filmmaker Roy Andersson draws the viewer into the world of a woman whose most uplifting moments are always balanced by tragedy, and whose joy is constantly offset by sorrow. This comic tragedy of life manifests itself in a manner that all can surely relate to, it's just whether YOU GET IT