27-year-old Mona works alone at a remote grill, studies again for the upcoming entrance exams and endlessly misses her spouse Helga, who is on a business trip. A new employee starts at the grill, 19-year-old lively and unbalanced Leo, who in all his likability makes Mona miss her past.
A shared moment by a fire in the remains of an Eastern Finnish rural community. The lines between light and dark, past and present start to waver. It Takes Years to Reach Us is a meditation on remembering while we drift on.
The meditative essay film studies the human inflicted changes in the environment through human perception and experience. The film is shot with a wide format Bolex UltraPan8 camera and developed by hand, partly with a spruce needle developer and partly with a chemical developer.
