The first impression I had watching “Songs From the Second Floor” was of a collection of life metaphors boxed in a surrealistic shape. A slight discomfort. Later on, some scenes insisted on coming back to mind and they amazed me in their simplicity/originality/reality. Blessed be the one who sits down.

This quote is from the Peruvian poet César Vallejo, whose poem “Stumble Between Two Stars” inspired Roy Andersson´s film. “Vallejo created a wrenching poetic language for Spanish that radically altered the shape of its imagery and the nature of its rhythms. No facile trend setter, Vallejo forged a new discourse in order to express his own visceral compassion for human suffering.” Even if it´s not that difficult to be digested, pretty much the same can be said about Andersson´s film that succeeds in portraying Vallejo´s imaginary and our modern and “complicated” human condition.

- How are you?
- What can I say? It’s not easy being human.

Life is hard to everyone. But is it really that bad?
After sacrificing “the youth”, a man drinks and throw ups, drinks again and throw ups. A woman on the floor can’t get back up on her stool. It´s easier to keep drinking than to sit down*. Or in Michael Thomson ´s words in a review to BBC, “all activity is pointless”. Pointless such as the perhaps obvious, but still great scene at the airport where several people push overloaded trolleys, piled high with towers of luggage.

There’s a time for misery. But it’ll soon be over. Only a few more yards and we’ll have left this damned dump under the clouds for good.

Obvious or not, we go through life carrying lots of unnecessary things and we´ll still try to take them with us when it comes the time to reach the second floor.

*Of course this is not what the scene means; it is just an analogy I made with “sits down” meaning to stop and think on what causes you pain.