Nous, les vivants

The latest, long-awaited work from Swedish absurdist Roy Andersson represents his fore into a self-described "cinema of trivialism." Andersson, closer in spirit and sensibility to Fellini and Bunuel than fellow countryman Bergman (who adored Andersson's commercials), and with a career like Tati's (four films in 37 years), tackles the tragicomic netherworld of the living dead or the dead amongst the living. Inspired by Goethe's Roman Elegies, the film's 50 interconnected sequences-featuring trumpets mastering their players, drinks conquering their drunks, arguments conquering their lovers-are each exquisite tableaus of the human condition and surreal paintings, quite literally, of human nature, at once inhabited by dreamers and madmen. One must both laugh and cry; to quote Andersson "living is so complicated to each one of us that the only thing that saves us is a sense of humor."