"About Endlessness" is a feature length collection of long static camera shots, each capturing a moment in the life of a human being. Some of the moments are mundane, some are disturbing, some are funny, many are melancholy. I was game to engage with the film's experimental approach for awhile -- it's like going to an art museum and having the paintings you're looking at come alive within their frames. But the concept eventually gets a bit monotonous and the film over stays its welcome by a good fifteen minutes or so. The compositions look absolutely gorgeous, though, even when what's on the screen is nothing but a simple, bare room.

Grade: B.

"Om det oändliga" or "About Endlessness" is a co-production between no fewer than four European countries that resulted in this Swedish movie. Sweden is definitely at the center of it all looking at the cast and where these actors came from and especially looking at the fact that the writer and director is Roy Andersson, one of Sweden's most successful filmmakers for a long time, and this film also resulted in some more accolades for him now. Not sure if he cares though as he is almost 80 now. It is a pretty short movie at under 80 minutes we have here, but it is alright. I think the style and approach would not have worked too well for a two-hour film or so. And in general, it's not the first time that Andersson has come up with a fairly short movie. As for the cast, I cannot really say too much. I think that Scandinavian mmovie buffs will recognize a few names and faces here for sure as many of the cast members are pretty experienced, but I am not too fammiliar with Swedish films from the last years or even decades. The image you see on the title page here on imdb is maybe also the most harmonic from the entire film as it is the only depiction of love and affection really. Everything else is about problems and struggles. And yet, for this display of affection there is not really any explanation why they re up there. Or even who they are in detail, especially the woman. But it's still a nice shot I'd say. The title is certainly linked to death in terms of the meaning, even if life is the exact opposite of "endless". But even after death, struggles may continue, just for the ones who are still living. So the struggling is endless, the struggling is infinite if you wannt to say it like that. Also no surprise, with Andersson's approach, this is a very bleak movie, as grey as you could think from the poster from beginning to end really and one thing you always see in here is the static camera on one spot and all the movement comes from the characters.

As I said in the title, this is a really depressing film at times. There are many examples. The most haunting for me is probably the one with the guy who is tied to a post and the guys leave and let him there and the tide will change in a way thatg is inevitably going to kill him eventually. No mercy there. We do not find out about a rescue or anything. He's gone probably. As is the really historically significant guy we see in one scene. Now that was definitely surprising to see him there. I shall leave the name out to avoid spoilers and keep my review from getting blocked. Later on, there is still a lengthy sequence in which we see prisoners of war. This is one occasion where we hear a voice-over from a female narrator summarizing very briefly what we are seeing. She speaks on many occasions. In those segments when we do not hear her voice, the characters are talking and somehow elaborating on the situation. It feels as if said female narrator is still watching with us in this segment, but keeps quiet. Nicely done I think. Also liked her voice. There are more tragic inclusions. One is about a guy being lost and he is definitely not the only one in this film. But his sequence was interesting from a perspective how Andersson plays with expectations from the characters, but also from the audience. I thought that after the woman says to the man who was apparently looking for his (blind) date that she is not the one whose name he says that she pretends not to be her, but actually is. She just does not want to meet him anymore after seeing him in person. Pretty tough. However, seconds later, another man shows up, who is apparently said woman's actual date. Or just a friend she hangs out with, so she said the truth to the other guy, the lost guy, that she is not the one with that name. One of the more interesting moments. There are also lighter sequences like the broken car (strange ending for a strange movie) or the broken shoe. As for the latter, it was almost funnier how the old guy sitting next to her kept looking what was going on while absolutely not trying to attract any attention whatsoever. Or of course the three ladies dancing and in the end everybody applauding was among the very lightest this film had to offer (besides two kids struggling with learning for school, physics I think),but it was also pretty awkward because right before that we had the scene with the guy who is going to drown, one of the saddest moments of the film. More sad moments come from the priest who lost his faith in God. What may have seemed slightly entertaining early on still received much more gravity with the nightmare sequence and the guy carrying the cross. And when in the end, he shows up at the practice crying because of all his doubts and uttering te same sentence again and again, it is kinda heartbreaking, also with how the doctor and his aide have to leave nonetheless and cannot just fit him in. We don't find out what happens next to him. Maybe the guy with the car being lost somwhere in no man's land was also an indicator linked to how the priest felt. He was the only one almost who got a bit of a story here. Okay, the guy who keeps running into the other at the stairs also appears twice. Once early and once late and it is easy to side with the other guy there looking at how mean the guy telling the story is. But his first inclusion was still funny with how the other guy passes by that exacct moment and does not say a word. Eventually we cannot be surprised. Another brief scene I liked from early on is the boy who has not yet found love in front of the barber shop and how he looks at the girl. Has anybody found love in this film? Kinda depressing again. Oh yeah, is the girl who died from this honor killing the one from the barber shop? I'm not sure, but probably not. This was maybe the most violent scene from them all, even if we do not see the stabbing. Just the blood. Overall, it can be said that most scenes are pretty tragic and sometimes they are also funny. But it is Andersson's simplicity that makes it all work so well. I actually got curious to check out more from the director. A very human movie with great atmospheric touch. Go check it out. Had it stayed as good as it was in the first half hour and kept the high level of quality for the following 45 minutes, then I would have considered giving this four stars out of five and declaring it one of 2019's finest. But sadly it goes a bit south quality-wise. Still it stays good, just loses greatness. Go see it! Took a long time to get here finally, probably even longer for other regions, but the wait is worth it. Positively recommended.

"In ABOUT ENDLESSNESS, similar vignettes are concatenated with an omnipresent female voice offering succinct statements. Here, the tone is more contemplative, mournful, finality seems inevitable. Hitler awaits his doomsday in the bunker, a crucifixion with a man carrying a huge cross who asks "what have he done to deserve that", an aftermath of a homicide, an elderly couple's visiting the tomb of their decease son, a priest has lost his faith and then is refused by his psychiatrist because it is not his appointed time."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks.