A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

Writer/Director Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is one of the most bizarre films I’ve seen in a long time.  It’s a collection of absurdist vignettes…some weird, some funny, some weirdly funny about the foibles of human existence.

 

On the positive side, the Cinematography of István Borbās and Gergely Pálos is often weirdly interesting.  However, the pace of the film is so slow that, as I kept dozing, I thought this film was the Swedish remedy for falling asleep during the season of the midnight sun.

 

The recurring characters of the traveling salesmen, Jonathan (Holger Andersson) and Sam (Nils Westblom) did not move me, at all, but the fate of King Karl XII (Victor Gyllenberg) was pretty funny.

I hate to say it, but the best things about the film are the English title and the poster. 

I give A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence a 2.2 out of 5.