If Vladimir and Estragon, the hapless protagonists of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," had attempted to make a comedy sketch show, they might have ended up with something like "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence." This mordant, strikingly original work from Swedish director Roy Andersson is a veritable theater of the absurd, executed with technical mastery and a healthy dose of glumness.
It's the final in the director's trilogy of films about "being a human being," which started with "Songs from the Second Floor" in 2000. Like the previous two installments, "A Pigeon" is a compendium of absurd skits that detail the joy, tragedy, tedium and frequent meaninglessness of human existence. Some are exasperating, others wonderful.
In the film's opening gambit, a portly gentleman suffers a heart attack while trying to uncork a bottle of wine, and the staff members in a ferry cafeteria ask the other customers if any of them would like to take the sandwich and beer ordered by a customer who just died at the checkout. Laughing yet? OK, maybe Andersson's humor is an acquired taste.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.