Kitchen Stories

Starring:Joachim Calmeyer, Tomas NorstrÃ¶m, BjÃ¸rn Floberg, Reine Brynolfsson, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Leif AndrÃ©e, Gard B. Eidsvold, Lennart JÃ¤hkel, Trond BrÃ¦nne, BjÃ¸rn Jenseg, Jan Gunnar RÃ¸ise, Karin Lunden, PÃ¤ivi Laakso
Director: Bent Hamer
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Viedo Review "Kitchen Stories"
I am stingy with 5s
Offbeat Film
Quiet Swedish scientist observes quiet Norwegian bachelor farmer in quiet winter landscape
My Favourite Movie

Kitchen Stories
Starring: Joachim Calmeyer , Tomas Norström , Bjørn Floberg , Reine Brynolfsson , and Sverre Anker Ousdal
Director: Bent Hamer
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Satire | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( K ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Under the Sun (Under Solen)
The Cuckoo
The Man Without a Past
Noi
Kristin Lavransdatter

ASIN: B00065GVIY
Release Date: 2004-12-14

Description

A Swedish researcher strikes up an unlikely friendship with a cranky Norwegian farmer in this "quirky, thoughtful and bittersweet" (Boxoffice) comedy that captured audiences hearts around theworld. Both "warm" (Newsday) and witty, Kitchen Stories is "a deadpan, thoroughly delightful comedy that cooks up tasty laughs" (New York Post)! It's the 1950s, and a Swedish efficiency expert under strict orders not to interact with his subject is sent to improve a Norwegian farmer's culinary efforts. But the sly old farmer much prefers to amuse himself by impeding the timid researcher's work! Soon, in the struggle between neutral observation and the need for human interaction, the kitchen becomes a battleground!

Customer Reviews:

Viedo Review "Kitchen Stories".......2007-06-19

Kitchen Stories ,a Swedish flm which was an Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival 2003 ,directed by Joachim Calmeyer, is a must see film,set in the the 1950's ,a Swedish Researcher Efficency Expert ,part of a project to gather research information about farmers ,forms an unlikely friendship with the farmer he is suppose to be objectively studing in this quirky comedy.The researcher is under strict orders to just observe his subject. The action occurrs in the batchelor farmers kitchen. A must see movie,in original Norwegian and Swedish with English Subtitles this movie which contains some mild language can be viewed by persons of all ages. An all time Favorite on my Top Ten movie list. Nate Goodman Salt Lake City, Utah U.S.A.

I am stingy with 5s.......2007-04-26

But this deserves it. Nearly perfect in all ways.

No need to reiterate the plot, which is very slight and well rehashed by the others. I do think there is another subtle issue going on which isn't much addressed here. The early 50s, when this movie is set, were a time of science as the end-all and be-all, the solver of all human problems and repairer of all human brokenness. Remember electricity too cheap to meter? Behaviorism? On and on the litany went, how reason and science would fix the damage done by evil and superstition.

Kitchen Stories is about the relationship between science and the heart. The famous dictum that we must murder to dissect, and by murdering our subject it is not longer fit for study, is beautifully examined here. A scientist, the dispassionate and cold observer, watches a man, and as his fondness grows, his observations diminish and then fail completely. What began as observer and observee becomes two friends. Science cannot know the human heart, just the human paths. And the way people walk around a room tells us very little about them.

Delightful touches abound, as sly jokes, clever dialog, those brilliant chairs (oh, how God-like the scientist is on his perch!) and the rawest of emotions surface in this quiet world. Even the leaders of the team, the firmest believers in what science can teach, demonstrate their own human failings and flaws. Nope, science is of limited use when looking at humans, or pigeons for that matter.

A first class film. Glad I stumbled into it!

Offbeat Film.......2007-04-19

We like seeing foreign films (less violence, more human emotions) and this was a treat. A Swedish researcher perches on a high platform taking notes about the kitchen habits of a Norwegian bachelor farmer. Both live isolated lives and eventually break through the barriers of observer and observed to form a friendship. Tenuous at first, the lonely men grow to be close friends. This disturbs the farmer's friend and the researcher's boss. There are amusing incidents, but overall it's a quiet film focusing more on personalities than on action.
Set in the fifties, it's an interesting view into Swedish and Norwegian life and thinking. The Philadelphia Inquirer describes it as "Hilarious!" but I think that misleads people to think it is a slapstick comedy. The conflict between the two men and the incidents intrigue and entertain, but it's not a rolling-on-the-floor kind of humor.

Quiet Swedish scientist observes quiet Norwegian bachelor farmer in quiet winter landscape.......2006-11-16

Yes, as several have noted, this is a quiet film. The humor is more likely to create smiles than guffaws. The set-up, a mildly absurd Swedish study of the kitchen habits of Norwegian men to help create a more scientifically efficient kitchen, gives way to a story of friendship between two lonely men, with a subplot of jealousy that leads to one of the funnier moments. Not a great deal happens for most of the film, but each small thing is given space, with relaxed pacing, and beautiful photography.

My Favourite Movie.......2006-07-20

I can always relate with either Isak, Folke or Grant. This type of humour is an acquired taste, but I love it. I highly recommend renting this to see if you like it before buying it, but I don't think you will be disappointed either way.

Kitchen Stories (Original Swedish/ Norwegian Version with English Subtitles) Salmer fra kjøkkenet

Average customer rating:

An appealing relief from Hollywood junk
A little kooky, but good
Excellent!!

Kitchen Stories (Original Swedish/ Norwegian Version with English Subtitles) Salmer fra kjøkkenet

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Kitchen Stories

ASIN: B000639N3Q

Product Description

In post war Sweden it was discovered that every year, an average housewife walks the equivalent number of miles as the distance between Stockholm and Congo, while preparing her family meals. So the Home Research Institute sent out eighteen observers to a rural district of Norway to map out the kitchen routines of single men. The researchers were on twenty-four-hour call, and sat in special strategically placed chairs in each kitchen. Furthermore, under no circumstances were the researchers to be spoken to, or included in the kitchen activities.

Customer Reviews:

An appealing relief from Hollywood junk.......2007-03-07

This is a film about the friendship that develops between two lonely bachelors in 1950s rural Norway. One is a reseacher assigned to study the kitchen habits (why, I don't know) of Norwegian bachelor farmers. He is not supposed to talk or communicate in any way with his subject, the farmer, but eventually he does and thus begins the friendship.

The movie is full of subtle humor (the premise of studying kitchen habits is rather silly to begin with) and proceeds at a peaceful pace that allows the humor to (I can't think of a better word) resonate. There are a couple of memorable images (one is a shot of a wet horse) and a few of the Norwegian countryside.

You will probably like this film if you are insulted by most Hollywood productions (as I am.) No tough guys with guns, no T&A, no exaggerated facial expressions: just a story about a sane friendship with a very unpredictable ending.

A little kooky, but good.......2005-03-15

This is a mildly bizarre story of a sociological study gone awry. You can find a more complete plot synopsis elsewhere...

It is wonderful film; it's funny, sad, and more than a little strange from beginning to end. I would highly recommend it for lovers of unusual foreign films

Excellent!!.......2004-12-06

I caught this film at the Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA, in February 2004. I went on the recommendation of a friend on pure blind faith... not knowing anything about what it was about. I recommend you do the same: this is simply one of the best films of the past five years that nobody I know has seen -- or heard of. For some reason the DVD is ridiculously expensive compared with others, but the value is definitely there.

Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjøkkenet) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Norway ]

Average customer rating:

Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjøkkenet) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Norway ]
Director: Bent Hamer
Manufacturer: SF(Fox)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000II9262

Product Description

Norway released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: Norwegian (Dolby Digital 2.0), Danish (Subtitles), English (Subtitles), Icelandic (Subtitles), Norwegian (Subtitles), Swedish (Subtitles), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: The Norwegian writer and director Bent Hamer's wry, uninflected deadpan social comedy points as straight and true as a compass fixed on magnetic north. It has the tingly, dry shock of a snootful of sub-zero air. The material itself is so minimal that it makes a New Yorker cartoon look like an episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants." Folke (Tomas Norstrom) is an expert from the Swedish Home Research, part of a project to track the domestic habits of Norwegian bachelors. He moves into the home of one of the study's subjects, Isak (Joachim Calmeyer), a bizarre codger who pads around his tiny, uncomfortable house. Isak turns the tables at night by slipping into his attic and spying on the lonely Folke, who lives in a trailer on Isak's property. Mr. Hamer takes what sounds like a constricted and unpromising premise, and gets the most out of the modest contradictions. He maximizes the concept, through an entrancing visual flair and, eventually, a tiny depth of feeling. He keeps the film compact, and the design scheme of this postwar era has dash and vigor. The retro polish of "Kitchen Stories" comments on the loneliness of utilitarian design. Folke might as well be a vowel floating in a Campbell Soup can. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu,

DVD:

DVD List

DVD

DVD

Our Mr. Sun/Strange Case of Cosmic

Fifth Element/Le Dernier Combat

Elizabeth Taylor [3 Discs]

DVD: Laserblast

Cheech And Chong - Get Out Of My Room