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This is the second post in a series covering my favorite movies of 2009.

My second Honorable mention is “Du Levande”, translated to “You, The Living”. I know what you are thinking… “I’ve never heard of this movie!” Just stay with me. It’s Swedish, absurdest, and bizarre, but literally every scene is a piece of art. And in the off chance that you have heard of it, then you are most likely thinking “Didn’t this come out in 2007?” Well, yes it did, but the first time any non-film-festival-going United States citizen had a chance to see it was 2009. What am I supposed to do, go back and update my favorites of 2007 list? Bah.

You, The Living - Rain at the Bus Stop

Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson’s second film is a black comedy portraying everyday life of the existence of different characters. It is the second of a trilogy of unrelated movies from Andersson, the first being “Songs from the Second Floor”. According to everything I have read, “You, The Living” was inspired by Goethe’s poetry series The Roman Elegies, which sounds to me to be just as peculiar as the movie itself. “You, The Living” is composed of 50 different and loosely connected vignettes. Andersson’s meandering story touches on both being happy and hurt while highlighting the most banal and mundane tasks, only to somehow point out the humor in it all. Each vignette consistently paints the bleakest of pictures about the characters and their lives.

The actors in this movie are not professionals and have some very unique looks in terms of costumes, make-up, and appearance. They are all truly human. From an obese woman to a heartbroken groupie, a bad carpenter to an ailing business consultant, each character is believable, recognizable, and absurd. Although the movie portrays these people in their natural environments they occasionally break through the boundaries of the screen by talking directly to the camera, either explaining their feelings or how they came to their tragically humorous circumstances. This helps highlight the depravity of their various situations while simultaneously making it more difficult to find humor in them, except when their comical dreams take over. I couldn’t possibly begin to go into details about each of the vignettes as they each deserve a post in their own right. They are all poignant, tragic, uplifting, and sad.

You, The Living - Phoning at the Bar

The best aspect of this movie is its cinematography and scene composition. The lighting, focal points, and placement in every scene are all well-designed and well-composed throughout. The appearance sometimes gives off an almost computer generated feel because normally the only way such a look could be attained is through some special effects company. In particular the shadows, or lack there-of, give off a sort of dream-like appearance. Hopefully you can tell from some of the images I have included in this post that the visuals of this movie, its raw appearance, are often unmatched and truly unique.

The end of the movie is very “Magnolia-esque”. *Spoiler* As the last vignette winds up, suddenly, all of the different characters stop their various lives to look up into the sky. A dixieland-era song plays as the scene changes to a fleet of airplanes appearing out of nowhere. The planes are large B-52 bombers, and they slowly fly over the city to give an almost foreboding sense of doom. Then credits the roll.

You can read more about “You, The Living” on Wikipedia, Netflix, and IMDB.

You, The Living - The Musician