Mikko Myllyahti goes down the rabbit hole of the meaning of life in his idiosyncratic black comedy, The Woodcutter Story, presented at the 61st Critics’ Week in Cannes.
In life (and cinema), finding one’s meaning could be the greatest obstacle of all. Mikko Myllylahti’s debut feature film, The Woodcutter Story, presented at this year’s Cannes’ Semaine De La Critique, explores the relationship between being content with one’s life and equating it to one’s happiness. Dealing with a heavy subject matter, Myllylahti uses a blend of his and Finnish master, Aki Kaurismäki’s dead-pan comedy to deliver a what the fuck did I just watch, poignant and bleak, mid-life crisis story.
Divided into two chapters, Pepe, a woodcutter working at a sawmill at a remote village up in the regional mountains of Finland, is celebrated on the day of his birthday at the local bar, where he is liked by everyone. Little snippets of everyday life in this village such as card games at Pepe’s house with his family and his friend, Tuomas and his wife; eating dinners quietly on the couch with his wife watching TV; mundane work at the sawmill, and other little slices of life. Pepe and the villagers’ lives get flipped once they announce that a developer has bought out the sawmill and plans to modernize the area for mining, in this isolated location where it doesn’t seem much to mine for. Pepe seems content with all this happening and doesn’t seem phased at all.
The Finnish nihilistic deadpan comedy is apparent throughout the whole film where Pepe and cast knock it out of the park a little too much where it can be a bothersome as the shtick gets old too fast, but your mileage may vary. The actor who plays Pepe, Jarkko Lahti, brilliantly delivers each line with a stoic deadpan elucidating humorous delivery where one’s miles may vary. Jarkko Lahti’s facial movements subtly sells the delivery with a serious tone, yet movement in his cheeks and mouth giving great comedic timing.
The film descends into bleak tragicomedy bits such as introducing a spiritual advisor asking us “Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning of all this?” in a cultish pyramid scheme to attract these villagers with no purpose in life. Marriage affairs, family losses, and deaths are turned into gags that Myllyahti portrays to build suspense and terror in the lives of the villagers. The best and albeit trickery that Myllyahti uses is letting the audience be like Pepe in how both of us are just going along with Pepe’s life and going along with this joke of a life he has. The nihilism of it all treats both of us as content (if you stick with the film) with life and this film’s story.
Now as a viewer, you can’t help, but question what the point of all this is, and that’s where Myllyahti’s story structure delivers a concluding blow in the last five minutes of the film. Many walkouts were made and the film rewards the viewer to see what happens in this story after all the tragedy is over. The finale of the film fortunately makes sense of all the illogical nonsense going on during the first 85 minutes of the film, and Myllyahti provides a profound reflection on the meaning of life.
