A gay movie doesn't have to have sex
Added 11/16/2009
I've been really surprised in reading the 26 previous reviews that almost nothing has been said about what seemed to me the central theme in this movie - the repression of male love, which in the end triumphs. You can call it "male bonding" if you want (as one reviewer did), but frankly, "male bonding" doesn't involved jealousy to the point of attempted murder, a rather large and dramatic incident in the film which nobody who wrote reviews seems to have noticed. At the end of plot, intense jealousy is replaced by the mutual love which the two survivors had for the third - and apparently now for each other- and which is no doubt encouraged by the lack of options for them, a fact which gay men who have grown up in rural areas before the internet will instantly recognize. I would not hesitate to call this a "gay genre film" - it's all over the plot and the emotional development of the characters. If you ignore it, you're missing a major part of the film. The lack of overt sexual content simply points to the fact that while being "observed" by an (initially) unknown outsider, the two farmers in the kitchen are restrained from acting naturally - as one sees when their customary meeting for coffee one morning lasts all of a minute and is abruptly terminated by the presence of the "scientific observer" (Folke). Of course, as with any real piece of art, this film has many other aspects - the general repression of one's humanity by a narrowly scientific approach to life, the issues surrounding the tension between Norwegians and Swedes, etc. It also has a certain deadpan humor, although I can't imagine why people would be rolling in the aisles. But in the end, it's essentially a movie about men who fall in love, even if the circumstances don't allow sex on screen. Perhaps the message was a little too subtle for some. It's a good film. Watch it again, and get it.
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Half-baked
Added 8/12/2009
This semi-wonderful Scandinavian film can be sifted into two piles -- one funny and one poignant. Of the two, the first is far more watchable.
"Kitchen Stories" relates attempts by HFI, a Swedish efficiency firm, to map the movements of single Norwegian males in the kitchen. The corporate experts, gray-clad and dull, pile into tiny trailers and head off into the frigid wastes of rural Norway. Once there, they are to into high, tennis-referee-style chairs in a kitchen corner and record their subjects as they move about. The first half of the film had an extremely dry, comic absurdist tone. In a human version of the Heisenberg Principle, the watcher cannot help but change the object he is watching. Mousy Folke Nilsson must endure being ignored and literally left in the dark by a crusty old Norwegian farmer named Isak. Slowly, inevitably, and against the rules, a bond begin to form between the two. A scene in which Folke borrows and then misplaces a saltshaker is a classic of subtle comedy.
Disappointingly, the film's second loses the subtle comedy of the first half and becomes almost maudlin. It's not difficult to imagine how the latter half's themes of loss, death and friendship could have been retained while also retaining the funny.
For those attuned to such things, there is a fair amount of good-humored Swedish-Norwegian joshing -- even to the point of a risky broaching of Swedish neutrality during the war. In a classic piece of visual humor, a border crossing is set up so that right-hand Swedish drivers can switch efficiently to the left-handed Norwegian style. But in spite of its wonderful premise and talented acting, overall, the film was a disappointment.
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Quaint and subtle
Added 7/23/2009
As expected, Norwegians and Swedes do treat each other with some mistrust, like any two people living side by side. :) Apparently, the universal human values can overcome this mistrust (pardon the obvious cliche), which is what "Kitchen Stories" is largely about. Alas, I couldn't tell what language the Norwegians and the Swedes spoke to each other in the film - I wonder who dominates: in the case of French- and German-speaking Swiss the default common medium is French.
Quiet and reserved in a nordic way, this film is a little gem based on an absurd premise. The interpretation of "Flickorna i Saland" sang phonetically by the Delta Rhythm Boys is simply wonderful.
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My Favorite Movie
Added 12/14/2008
I like odd ball & foreign movies, and this is certainly one. I have thought of it as my favorite movie for the last 4 or 5 years. If you like something a little different, try it. I loaned it to my neighbor, a psycology professor, and he agreed with me - very good (so I'm not nuts!). :-)
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Kitchen Stories
Added 11/4/2008
J'ai adoré ce film. Tout en étant humoristique, il explique les réalités de la recherche de terrain. Je conseille ce film à tous ceux qui planifient utiliser l'observation dans leurs travaux de recherche. Bon visionnement!
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