Golden Pictures: heartbroken poems

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The film consists of a fluent succession of exactly 50 short sketches, most of them with a tragicomic undertone. The cast is non-professional and alienating techniques such as presenting the characters in grim make-up and having them talk directly to the camera are extensively used. The financing was troublesome and the shooting took three years to finish. The film won the Silver Hugo for Best Direction at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival and has received positive reviews. It is the second film of an unfinished trilogy, Songs from the Second Floor being the first.

There is no central plot, but some of the vignettes connect loosely. All the stories show the essential humanity of the characters and address themes of life, existence and happiness.

From very early on there was trouble with the financing. Andersson had to make regular visits to a pawn-shop, and several times the team paused the production to make commercials, using the proceeds for the film. After being refused funding from the Swedish Film Institute, Roy Andersson accused the responsible consultant of nepotism, after the consultant instead gave the money to a film directed by his own father-in-law. That film eventually ended up receiving poor reviews. In the end, with eighteen organizations from six different countries involved in financing the production, the total budget landed on slightly over five million euros.

The colour scape was designed to not leave too much contrast, which the director believed would create more intensity. Lighting was arranged to leave no shadows: "I want light where people can't hide in – light without mercy." Andersson is famous for his many takes of each scene, although this time he claimed it went smoother than usual: "max. 40-50 takes and sometimes under ten!"