Touches You

Captivating movie !

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

What a thoughtful film. From the opening caravans, the little bit of real Swedish kitchen history (so the director told the audience in TIFF), to the sombre ending note. the message was clear, the acting understated, the direction firm.Is it a comedy? or an observation that we find unlikely but heartbreakingly true that it is blinding our judgement ? A few years ago, in the midst of 35 films in 10 days, I first saw Bent Hammer's Water Easy Reach. It had the most distinct timing, flow, story, yet it was trying to say something not so obvious. It let me to this choice, and this is an masterpiece.But I can see some would argue that this has only a singular statement about the human condition. But that is exactly the boldness, the care the thought ?

This seems to be my week for male buddy movies. At the loud and exotic end of the spectrum was The Matador. Kitchen Stories lands at the quiet, domestic, and droll end. This is a slow, slight movie, almost completely predictable, and whose premise requires a large suspension of disbelief. But it taps into such a strong human desire — the need for companionship — that you can overlook these flaws, and enjoy its gentle humor and warm heart.I would write more if I had something extra to add to the existing universe of reviews about this movie. The critic James Berardinelli, however, has captured the essence of my reaction well, so I'll leave further commentary to him: http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/k/kitchen_stories.html.

You are not likely ever to see anything like this coming out of Hollywood, in fact you are not likely to see anything like it period. This one is cause for celebration of small independent films. Reading the plot line, "Swedish company goes to Norway to study the kitchen habits of bachelors with the goal of designing the ideally efficient kitchen," does not inspire one to rush to see this. But, score one for the IMDb commentators whose positive reviews did encourage me to see it.Much territory is covered in this quiet movie. First there is the satirical observations on the modern passion to analyze and standardize. The bachelor under observation here, Isak, proves the foolishness of the standardization effort - he doesn't even cook in his kitchen. The observer assigned to Isak, Folke, starts out as a fastidious company man, but his time with Isak changes him, as well as Isak. The rule that the observer and observed are not to talk is ultimately breached - the taciturn Norwegian bachelor farmer and the lonely company man give proof to the fact that we humans are social animals. Through friendships we become stronger and more authentic. But, as noted here, newly formed friendships can disturb existing relationships and provoke jealousies.The rigidity of corporate management structures comes in for some lampooning and the whole credibility of any survey is brought into question. There is a sort of social Heisenberg uncertainty principle in play - the acts of the surveyor influence the responses of the surveyed.This is a truly one of a kind story, uniquely realized with subtle humor, wry observations, and endearing characters.

We humans are, by nature, a thoroughly inquisitive lot. We can't help but want to know what it is that makes everything - including the people around us - "tick." But can that curiosity, which has done so much to enlighten and advance us as a species, also wind up draining all the spontaneity and fun out of life? If everything is catalogued and labeled and put into little boxes, what happens to that sense of mystery that makes life worth living? The Swedish film "Kitchen Stories" is an ingenious little satire about mankind's insatiable propensity to study and analyze every damn thing in life and to subject even our most mundane daily activities to the rigors of scientific enquiry.It's the 1950's and a group of Swedish researchers have descended on Norway to study "the kitchen habits of the single male," a truly pressing concern if ever there was one. The project involves setting up an "observer" in a volunteer's kitchen in order to watch and record the subject's every move, leading, hopefully, to kitchen designs that will prove more fruitful and productive for the average citizen. The proviso is that there is to be no fraternizing whatsoever between the two parties, otherwise the "objective" nature of the experiment will be ruined. This is truly life as lived under a microscope, and the question early on becomes who will be the first to "crack" under the pressure of this totally unnatural state of affairs, the observer or the observed. And just how meaningful and reliable could information gleaned from such a contrived, unnatural setup be anyway? Given the complexity of human nature, how much can such a study truly tell us about ourselves and what we're really like? The film focuses on two men who are caught up in the study: Isak, the relatively reluctant subject, and Nilsson, the analyst who takes up residence in Isak's kitchen, perched high above him on a five foot tall chair made especially for the occasion. At first, the air is tense between the two men, for Isak is not shy about showing his obvious resentment of this nonstop intrusion and prying into his daily life. But, after a few days, the mood thaws out and the two men become fast friends, drawn to each other by their common humanity and need for companionship. Soon, they are breaking all the "rules" of the study, sharing food, beverages and conversation with untoward abandon.Some people may see this film as an allegory of life under a totalitarian regime, with the individual's every move being observed, recorded and monitored by an authoritarian power. I see it more as a simple study in human nature, as two men triumph over a dehumanized institution. Either way, the film does an interesting job showing just how easily the observer can become the observed if he lets his guard down. The film boasts excellent performances from Joachim Calmeyer as Isak, Tomas Norstrom as Nilsson, Bjorn Floberg as Isak's jealous friend, Grant, and Reine Brynolfsson as Nilsson's serious, Nervous Nelly boss who, like Grant, can't abide the intimacy he sees developing between evaluator and subject (albeit for totally different reasons)."Kitchen Stories" is a quiet, almost muted film in which the characters rarely speak above a whisper, reflecting the somber mood of both the clinical experiment and the stark winter background against which the story takes place. Yet, there is warmth and humor in the relationship between Isak and Nilsson, and a great deal of quirky humor in both the premise and director Bent Hamer's sly execution of it. This is a film for those in search of the unique and the offbeat.