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We Are All Pigeons

Just when you thought that there really isn't much out there that is unique in film, along comes the Swedish director Roy Andersson and his "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence". As odd as that title is, it doesn't come close to how odd the actual movie is.

Andersson's career is also a bit atypical, even for an eccentric Swedish director. In four decades he has directed five feature-length films, two short films, and over 400 television commercials. He has established a style that features scenes with little or no physical movement by its characters, consistent long shots that concentrate more on the room than the people, and an overall look of bleakness. If you're looking for bright colors, look elsewhere. The effect is one of absurdity. Everything about our existence is pointless and absurd to Andersson.

In the first scene, an older couple is in a natural history museum. He moves slowly from one exhibit to another, displaying no reaction to any of it. She waits at the room's exit, seemingly impatient. One of the exhibits is a stuffed pigeon sitting on a branch. Absolutely nothing happens in this scene, yet somehow it is compelling, even if it is a bit confusing. The rest of the film varies very little from this first scene, other than the situations and scenery change. It's a series of vignettes that bounce around in space and time, and sometimes back, again. This is strange stuff.

Two characters appear repeatedly. Sam and Jonathan are traveling salesmen who work together selling novelty items. Their best sellers are plastic vampire fangs, a bag that plays canned laughter when squeezed, and a rubber mask they refer to as Uncle One Tooth. They never sell a thing and no one registers as much as a half-smile in response to their presentations. It's not like anyone else here would ever smile no matter what was in front of them.

In the final scene, we see people being marched into a large and bizarre looking machine with what appears to be numerous tubas jutting out from the structure. After they are all inside, someone sets it on fire, presumably killing them, but like everything else that happens in the film, no one reacts to what must be a gruesome scene. Even though we don't fully understand what is going on, it's not difficult to imagine that Andersson is offering a commentary on how we treat each other.

"A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" is as dark a comedy as you might ever experience, but I'm not even sure if describing it as a comedy does it justice or is the least bit accurate. I can guarantee that you have never seen anything like it, but your reaction to it could be anything between boredom and fascination. I lean towards the latter.