Movies HS was present in Cannes when a Finnish film premiered, in which Metsä-Pepe goes wrong

Cannes

One The hallmarks of the Cannes Film Festival are the convoys of the big black cars behind the tinted glasses carrying VIP guests to the premieres. On Thursday, such a queue of cars was parked on a side street in Cannes in front of a cinema on rue Pasteur, where a Finnish The story of a lumberjack world premiere of.

However, the cars did not rise Hannu-Pekka Björkmanin, Katja Küttner, Jarkko Lahti or Ulla Tapaninen such as The story of a lumberjack Actors.

No one got out of the cars.

The convoy stood still waiting to leave for the evening’s main event on the other side of town – an American film starring names like Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.

Finns the authors splurge on the premiere theater between the black cars. The story of a lumberjack director and screenwriter Mikko Myllylahti didn’t seem to care much about black cars.

Instead, he was still going to change his shirt at the last minute before the premiere.

“The biggest thing for me today is to see the film with the audience for the first time,” busy Myllylahti told HS during the premiere.

The story of a lumberjack is featured in the Critics Week page series in Cannes, which does not garner attention like the main series in Cannes.

The venue is still unparalleled, as the audience is professional in the field and their enthusiasm can open the doors. The story of a lumberjack presented internationally as The Woodcutter Storyand at Cannes ’premiere on Thursday, the audience felt like a living story.

In the movie it is told on the surface about structural change in Finland, where factories in the north are being closed and the population is declining from the periphery. At the same time, love also seems to be dying, and villages are left with men like the main character Pepe, from whom little by little seems to disappear all by their side. Namely, Pepe loses his job at the beginning of the film and his mother also dies, but that is just the prelude to the sorrows of Pepe and those close to him.

The film is characterized by a beautiful description, absurd situations, and clearly the turns written by the poet, in which the death of the soul, the purpose of life, and the sadness of life, among other things, are considered humorously and sometimes abruptly.

As a result is a combination of rude rural drama, strange surrealism and grotesque description of society. “In doing so, I noticed that there are the same shades here as the visual artist Kalervo in Palsa”, Director-screenwriter Myllylahti said in Cannes, but most of all, he thought the idea of ​​hope was repeated in the film.

“The film is a terribly Finnish and at the same time full-blooded Arthouse film. There is something Finnish in the main character’s struggle, especially in northern Finland, ”Myllylahti estimates.

“I wanted to get out of psychological realism and I wanted to address the subject through a strong genre,” Myllylahti says. He believes that it is the genre and humor that help take the film abroad.

Starring by Jarkko Lahti. According to Lahti, the logger Pepe he presents is a modest and discreet Finn who does not want to take up space.

“So an atypical protagonist,” the actor sums up.

Lahti became known to the general public in Finland About a smiling manwhich was based on a manuscript from Myllylahti. For the first time, the working group will not be sniffing the atmosphere of Cannes, as Myllylahti also won Metsuri’s story with his script. Cannes incentive award in 2019.

Director-Screenwriter Myllylahti is from Tornio, where he moved south when he grew up. “I am a train driver,” says Myllylahti.

“It’s no coincidence that the film is set in the north. Underlying my thoughts about the small town and its stagnation and the depression vibrating in the air and how things go unsaid. It is also personal that I share the main character’s optimism. I always try to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the protagonist of the film is certainly much more hopeful than I am. ”

The protagonist of the film, Pepe, really tries to see the future bright even as adversity follows one after another.

Actor According to Lahti, his fairway The story of a lumberjack the role work was found in childhood memories, women of the family who humbly accepted life but still in no way submitted.

“This was a very personal role for me and I did my job as a hat lift for women in my family. The idea of ​​acting is that you try to find the material for yourself and scale it as much as possible. ”

When the director-screenwriter asks Myllylahti about the influences, he mentions he always liked Robert Bressonin from the movies. ‘And for that we looked at the graph (Arsen Sarkisiants) with a lot Takeshi Kitanon movies, ”says Myllylahti.

When you see the film, it’s clear that the influences have also come from Americans Coenin from the brothers as well From Aki Kaurismäki. “I haven’t deliberately tried Kaurismäki,” Myllylahti says.

The story of a lumberjack is a typical story in the sense that six years have passed since the idea became a film. Behind the film is the film company Aamu, which in recent years has become one of the top Finnish production companies with a more artistic approach to film. Cabin No. 6 and A smiling man with movies like.

Film producer Emilia Haukan According to him, the best thing about the project was getting to know Mikko Myllylahti and understanding what he wants from the films.

“The work speaks for itself in that sense. For me, it describes how a person relies on what he or she carries when everything around him or her disappears, ”says Haukka.

According to Hauka, the presentation of the film’s idea, ie pitching to foreign financiers and partners, was successful at the moment when Finns realized that humor unites them. According to Hauka, the film has a good future abroad. “The journey is definitely still ahead,” Haukka said.

For the trip leaving will help if the feedback is good in Cannes. That’s what it looks like now.

International film magazines are a hit in their reviews.

Movie site Deadline commends, and points out that Myllylahti must be kept in mind in the future. At the same time, the site states that the film contains almost everything that can be expected from a Finnish film, namely snow, ice fishing and ax murder.

British film magazine Screen is also cautiously positive and commends the film for not expecting anything to be seen:

Next to the film industry Cineuropa website also commends.

According to the site’s critic, the film also has influences From David Lynch:

When the first performance to the audience in Cannes was over, the director-screenwriter Myllylahti seemed both relieved and moved.

While directing his first film, he had momentarily feared the work would be the last. It doesn’t look like it anymore.

“The audience laughed at the right points. I was happy about that. ”