Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11173 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-06
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Norwegian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
A quaint story about the friendship between two aging men, KITCHEN STORIES is packaged as a comedy with a very strange premise. It is based on research conducted in Sweden in the 1950s when women were observed in the kitchen for a study to determine the best housework techniques. In the film, a fictional plotline concerns a team of Swedish scientists--all men--hired to observe bachelors living alone in Norway. Their methods are absurd. The observers live in funny little trailers outside their subjects' houses. They sit in high, intimidating chairs placed in the corner of their subjects' kitchens where they take notes on a clipboard. Finally, there is a strict rule that the observer and the subject must not speak to each other or make contact of any kind. This last rule is impossible to follow, and in the case of observer Folke (Tomas Norstrom) and subject Isak (Joachim Calmeyer) it is ignored. The two aging men become fast friends, passing wintry afternoons in the rural countryside sipping coffee, smoking pipes, and telling each other fantastic stories. Writer-director Bent Hamer has created a sweet and pleasing comedy with KITCHEN STORIES, using excellent photography, interesting colours, and great performances to make a success of a uncomplicated plot.

Customer Reviews

Friendship Unbound
Isak did not care to speak to Folke. Folke was not to speak to Isak. Such were the rules unspoken and otherwise. This is "Kitchen Stories," or, as this movie is known in Norway, "Salmer Fra Kjøkkenet."

Isak, as the subject of Folke's sociological research, offered himself up to be studied thinking a horse was to be provided, and when a toy horse arrived instead of a breathing one, on strike he went. Thus began their banal arrangement.

Things delved into a quiet silence, each respecting the other's space in the midst of themselves. Each watched the other. One took notes, the other remembered. Soon, they realized how similar they were: two single men doing little more than avoiding relationships, living alone.

Isak is a curmudgeoned older bachelor living in Norway, whilst Folke, also a bachelor, makes a living studying people like Isak. However, having never dialogued with his subjects, Folke, he never saw more them as more than moving objects to be charted and analyzed. Within a few cups of coffee, two lonely men become brothers, seeing there is something more important than a self-induced hermitage.

Their relationship develops with subtle sophistication, with Folke bringing in rare treats his elderly aunt sends him, and Isak, saving his friend from being run over by a train.

Like 84 Charing Cross Road [1986], "Kitchen Stories" is graceful in its presentation and unfolding of phileo love.

--Brockeim

Quiet, dry, amusing...and ultimately touching
This Norwegion/Swedish co-production starts out as a dry, deadpan comedy of differences and ends as a dry, deadpan comedy of friendships. Sweden's Home Research Institute has just finished a detailed, observation-based study of the Swedish housewife's movements through her kitchen. The purpose is to maximize efficiency. The next step is a study of Norwegian bachelors and how they use their kitchens. Observers are sent out to scientifically plot the movements of their subjects' kitchen use. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norstrom) is sent to the small farmhouse of Isak Bjornsson (Joachim Calmeyer), who lives on the outskirts of the Norwegian village of Landstad. Nilsson's instructions are clear. He is to have no interactions with the subject. He is not to speak. He is not to offer help. He is to spend his time observing from a tall highchair in the corner of the kitchen, saying nothing and only plotting the subject's movements. The study gets off to a rocky start. Bjornsson is a crafty, aging man who has had second thoughts about agreeing to take part. He quietly makes things difficult for Nilsson, turning off the light, leaving a faucet to deliberately drip, even boring a small hole in the ceiling above where Nilsson perches so that he can observe the observer.

Slowly, small gestures between the men evolve into a friendship. Nilsson uses a salt shaker to salt his boiled egg for lunch and when Bjornsson can't find the shaker, Nilsson coughs and slightly motions to where it is. Bjornsson one afternoon makes two cups of coffee instead of one, and Nilsson climbs off his perch to have it, without speaking. On a cold night, Bjornsson finds a blanket for Nilsson. Soon the two taciturn men are seated at the kitchen table, talking quietly about things. A tentative relationship develops into a real friendship. The ending is as dry and touching as the rest of the movie.

As the two men become friends, of course, the kitchen study is fatally compromised. While the friendship evolves, director Bent Hamer creates a commentary on all sorts of things. The movie looks quietly and amusingly at stereotypes (Swedish efficiency; Norwegian quaintness), behavior and sociology. I hope all the sociology teachers who see this movie have senses of humor; if they don't, they're going to have a bad research day.

At one point, one of the other observers comes pounding on the door of Nilsson's little trailer. The man and his subject have begun drinking and talking together. Nilsson's colleague has run out of booze and needs two bottles of beer. Nilsson refuses and the man shouts drunkenly at him, "We're not allowed to drink. Not allowed to talk. Folke, what the hell are we doing? We sit up there on our pedestals and think we understand everything. How can we think we understand anything about people simply by observing them? We have to talk to each other! We have to communicate!"

This is a movie that sets its own pace, full of amusing and understated moments and has two fine performances by Joachim Calmeyer and Tomas Norstrom. The DVD picture looks fine. The movie is set in winter, and the picture is cold, clear and sunny with lots of snow on the ground.

Very enjoyable!
I thoroughly enjoyed this and along with my friends. Like the review above says the premise from just reading the back of the box is interesting enough but when you actually watch it you get a whole lot more. Extremely moving and although the ending is sad it still leaves you feeling good.

Highly recommended!