Me tulemme taas

Me tulemme taas is originally a song-hit made by Reino Helismaa and Toivo Kärki.This is a movie from 1953 directed by Armand Lohikoski.It did very well at the box-office back then.The movie tells about a bunch of log floaters and a couple of them's love life.The great Tapio Rautavaara plays Olli while Tuija Halonen plays his love interest Satu.Siiri Angerkoski is Kaisa, the widow.The legendary Åke Lindman is Kymppi, lumberjack boss.Masa Níemi is terrific playing Reetrikki.Armas Jokio does great job playing the bad boy Jooseppi.Aku Korhonen is the man we could always trust.This time he plays Alpertti.Tommi Rinne is brilliant as always playing Minäpoika.Anneli Sauli does her movie debut as Katri Karkela.Some people to mention in smaller roles are Pentti Irjala, Kalevi Kahra, Marita Nordberg, Kirsti Ortola and Veijo Pasanen.Me tulemme taas is filled with great songs, including "Poskivalssi".This is a fantastic movie from Finland that doesn't exist anymore.

This is quite a typical old Finnish comedy film where there is not much of a plot, but it follows the life of a group of people in a place they live. A lot of funny things happen, and of course there is some romantic sub-plot that evolves in the midst of all the goofing around.

This movie is quite well known, I think it's quite often in Finnish tv. I had seen parts of it earlier and knew the iconic title song, but only lately I decided to watch it through. I felt like the plot was a bit thin but there are legendary actors and a lighthearted tone that will make you smile at least occasionally. It's the kind of film that is quite silly but you just can't be angry at it because it's also so charming!

Armand Lohikoski's debut feature film belongs to the wave of very popular lumberjack movies in Finland: Kaisa (Siiri Angerkoski) is a widowed miller with a beautiful daughter Satu (Tuija Halonen). A rich local farmer Konsta Karkela (Veikko Linna) would like to buy Kaisa's mill but she refuses to sell it, so he devises a plan to get her married to a buffoon named Jooseppi (Armas Jokio) so that she would move away. He also plans to have his not-too-smart son Eugen (Kai Lappalainen) married to Satu, but the women aren't easy to woo, especially after a brisk bunch of lumberjacks arrives to the village on their timber rafting route. Among them are Kaisa's love interest Alpertti (Aku Korhonen) and Minäpoika (Tommi Rinne) who is the boyfriend of Konsta's daughter Katri (Anneli Sauli). Soon a new handsome man named Olli (Tapio Rautavaara) also joins the group and becomes attracted to Satu. Cheery songs and funny incidents are guaranteed whenever the merry logger gang is around.

The film is obviously not to be taken as anything more than light entertainment; the plot is borderline non-existent and the short runtime is devoted to musical numbers, practical jokes played by the lumberjacks and numerous romantic advances with varying rates of success. Luckily the songs by Toivo Kärki are all catchy, especially the title song and "Vanhan myllyn taru", and the antics of the gang are always amusing thanks to the natural charisma surrounding the actors. Extra praise must be given to the always lovable Aku Korhonen and Siiri Angerkoski, who play the funniest characters in the whole movie and are easily among the best comedy actors in the history if Finnish cinema.

Anneli Sauli and Tuija Halonen are beautiful as the young ladies of the story, but the scenery provides eye-candy too. The river landscapes and the now-obsolete timber rafting techniques and infrastructure open a fascinating window to a time that no longer exists, also carrying a warm sense of communality in the form of the high group spirit among the lumberjacks. Although Me tulemme taas is a very entertaining movie, it could have been even better had there been either a stronger plot or more songs (or both), but it is definitely worth a recommendation as it is now too.