Songs from the Second Floor

Co-winner of the Jury Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, writer-director Roy Andersson's absurdist drama pieces together unrelated vignettes to craft an arresting, abstract portrait of life at the turn of the millennium. A magician accidentally bisects an audience member; a boy writes poetry nonstop until he's committed to a psychiatric facility; a man torches his furniture store, then goes into business selling crucifixes.