Padraig (James Healy-Meaney), is a lonely and grief-stricken man who seeks the help of a mysterious carpenter names John (Gerry Wade), to help him build a coffin for his already dead and buried wife.
REVIEW:
I don’t mind slow films that take their time to tell their story fully visually, especially ones like A Guide to Becoming an Elm Tree that use folklore to unfold metaphors on life and grief.
The story is simple: a man works through his grief for his deceased wife by learning how to make her coffin with the aid of a trusted mentor, John (Gerry Wade). Working through the plot is the easy part. Padraig (James Healey-Meaney) learns to respect the carpentry involved by going through the process, respecting the craft: picking the right tree, how to cut it properly, how to artfully and respectfully hone the wood to its beautiful final form.
He learns art by respecting life and death- and in turn knows how to live a meaningful life where the possible finality of every second is valued. That’s the guidebook of the movie’s title.
The second part is Padraig learning to see the metaphoric value of his life and his dead wife’s also. That involves knowing folklore, nature, really seeing and feeling everything in its totality. Ultimately he hears his wife spirit in a majestic elm and knows he must tragically release it so he conquers his grief and gives her the proper release to be in happiness in whatever heaven she is destined for. He must learn the universal emotional and spiritual truth behind the folklore. Those viewers fully attuned to this second layer will get it, all the others will be stuck, grumbling about the slowness of the surface story.
Everything from the characters to the light, the trees, the dead wood being honed breathes. And the directors, the psychic brother-sister duo of Adam Mann and Skye Mann, let the story and character breathe too. The simplest eating and talking are full of the pauses where Padraig realizes the truth, wisdom and beauty of what John is both telling and showing him. To respect life is to follow and know it to its last breath. The Manns respect that time spent. The movie is a brief 75 minutes long, The pauses are simply the visual extension of what would have happened in the relaying of the oral tradition to attentive children. The acting respects that part too.
Elm Tree is not really a horror film. It’s the mythic visions of a country’s heritage being told with all the respect it deserves.
A Guide to Becoming an Elm Tree gets a 3.5/5 or a B+. It’s being shown as a part of the Chattanooga Film Festival that runs virtually from June 21-28.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)
Cast
James Henley-Meaney
Gerry Wade
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