Cert 12A
100 mins
BBFC advice: Contains disturbing images
Here's an everyfilm record - the film with the longest title of any in the last five years.
And such was my apprehension before watching A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence I thought the best plan was to watch it alone on my laptop.
Mrs W has been such a wonderful supporter of the challenge that I think it is unfair to subject her to what I think might be dross.
Within three minutes, I was hooking the laptop up to our TV and telling her she should watch it because I knew it would tickle her funny bone.
Sure enough, there are three sketches early on which prompted belly laughs.
Disappointingly, the standards was not maintained and the giggles disappeared and the smiles became more wan.
Roy Andersson has directed a bunch of Monty Python-style sketches but like Python not all of them hit the mark with us.
But there are some, including one in a dance studio, which are truly hilarious.
Some of the sketches are in isolation and some have characters who have appeared in previous scenes (one even tells the camera that he has got a new job during his second appearance).
Holger Andersson and Nils Westblom are among a large cast who use physicality to get across their gags in a manner in which John Cleese might have appreciated.
It was just a shame that the early promise faded.
Director Roy Andersson : "I was sitting one day at the kitchen table writing my script. It was one floor up and I saw, on the other side of the window, a tree. And in that tree sat a pigeon. And I thought: maybe that pigeon is also fighting with some problems. I was fighting with my script and the pigeon was fighting something else, maybe the problem of finding something to eat. So I think that the pigeon is a projection of myself. "
Reasons to watch: Pythonesque humour
Reasons to avoid: The patchiness of its presentation
Laughs: Three really good ones and a few chuckles
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6.5/10