Starring: Joachim Calmeyer, Tomas Norstrom
Director: Bent Hamer
Rated: PG
(Norwegian and Swedish with English subtitles)
I FIRST saw Kitchen Stories at this year’s Brisbane International Film Festival.
There, it was described to me as set in 1950s Norway where a fleet of observers from the Swedish Home Research Institute descend on a remote rural settlement. They are conducting research on the kitchen routines of single men.
It becomes clear, though, that “conduct research” is something of a misnomer – they arrive with their own caravans, are supposed to sit in the corner of their subject’s kitchen in high stools frighteningly reminiscent of the hunting perches found in European forests. They may not make direct contact with their subjects in any way.
Of course this “objectivity”, as is quickly demonstrated, can lead to strange misunderstandings. And unfortunately it appears that it is almost impossible to limit and regulate people anywhere in the world in this way.
Communication, or lack thereof, friendship and jealousy are the themes within Kitchen Stories that writer and director Bent Hamer has presented with deadpan humour.
But there are also some pointed comments on scientific research, that people are not machines and that research devoid of humanity is doomed.
The envy and rivalry between Norway and Sweden should not be lost on Antipodean audiences. And it is good to recall the bitterness that existed between the two countries post-World War II.
The production design of Kitchen Stories is spectacular, the humour wonderful, but what resonates long after the credits roll is the warmth generated by the genuine and funny friendship triangle that develops between one reluctant participant, his best friend, and his researcher, all thrown together in such odd circumstances.
Kitchen Stories is an ironic, entertaining and coolly affecting piece of cinema.
