Confession time: I have never seen a film by Roy Andersson. And clearly this needs to change because if his work is anything at all like the drily hysterical trailer for his Venice and Toronto selection
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence then they were absolutely
made for me. Here's how Toronto describes it:
A mixture of absurdist, hilariously
deadpan humour, shock, and utter horror.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on
Existence presents a series of darkly comic
vignettes organized around two narrative
strands. In one, two hapless novelty salesmen
wander around town trying to sell
their inventory of vampire fangs and rubber
masks, all the while bickering like an old
married couple; in the other, Charles XII,
Sweden's most bellicose king, reappears
in modern times to carry on his series
of disastrous defeats. Shifting between
nightmare, fantasy, reverie, and even an
impromptu musical number, the film culminates
with a blistering indictment of what
Andersson presents as humanity's stunning
lack of empathy.
The trailer - English subtitles included - lies below. All I can say is, yes, I'll take the beer, too.