Winner of the Cannes Special Jury Prize in 2000, Songs from the Second Floor is composed of only forty-six scenes, unspooled before a still camera like paintings come to life. Here Sweden's sanitized world first appears normal, yet as the camera rolls, the repressed returns: nightmares, terrors, the dead or the misshapen, and “little” social errors like racism and downsizing, each played out like a silent comedy, or an art installation. It's the dawn of a new millennium, but the old one holds on: crucifix salesmen critique the new line of plastic Christs, a senile WWII-era general asks visitors to “give my regards to Göring,” the ruling elite gather cliffside to sacrifice a virgin, and a traffic jam brings life to a standstill. “Short Cuts meets Night of the Living Dead” wrote the Bay Guardian to define this film's gorgeous peculiarities; no matter the comparisons, it remains a singular vision of society, and an even more singular vision of cinema.