Swedish writer-director Roy Andersson’s You, the Living, with a title inspired by a Goethe poem, isn’t on the same level as his 2000 visionary breakthrough, Songs from the Second Floor, even though it has many of the same hallmarks.

Andersson isn’t interested in being a storyteller in any traditional sense, eschewing plot in favor of wide-angle shots of exaggerated scenes human despair and existential angst, which are funny for their relentless frankness. In You, the Living, some of these scenes involve a tuba player, a prostitute, an angry barber and a variety of other sad sacks. These characters often speak directly to the camera and are forthright about their uncomfortable struggles with the bleak absurdity of life. And that absurdity is above the surface not below it in the filmmaker’s work.

Andersson, who spent 25 years directing TV commercials, is driven to precision in each shot like someone used to trying to express his ideas in thirty-second spots. His elaborate sets, his aggressively working-class wardrobes, his offbeat casting and his unique sense of cinematography create a style that’s all his own. Even when everything doesn’t completely congeal as in this film, any Andersson work is still worth watching for the sad and strange beauty of many of the scenes.

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