Norway/Sweden 2003
Director: Bent Hamer
Score: ***

The image of a character placing the just torn and neatly folded toilet paper - ready for use - beside the roll in Bent Hamer’s first film EGGS (1995) still registers clearly in my mind. Such is Hamer’s attention to the quirks of his actors and to the household items surrounding them. Hamer’s latest outing, KITCHEN STORIES, set during the post-war period offers him more chances to showcase his talent for observing the idiosyncrasies of human beings. The scenario concerns experts of house and home re-organizing the kitchen so that the average housewife can work most efficiently. Having already mapped out the ideal Swedish kitchen, scientists now move to northern Norway as they send researchers to observe single men.

KITCHEN STORIES is much better than it sounds. To achieve the above task, one observer, Folke (Tomas Norstrom) is placed atop a high stool to observe the daily movements of farmer Isak (Joachim Calmeyer).  There are rules: Observer and observant are barred from conversation and have to stay distant and a supervisor arrives occasionally to check up on the two men.  Naturally, these rules are next to impossible to follow and eventually, Folke’s co-worker and his bachelor take to the drink together. At the same time, Folke and Isak slowly become friends. This is Hamer’s humor, sometimes very dry (so dry that often no laughs are heard at all during the screening I went to) but often quite funny and satirical on issues such as bureaucracy and human behavior like friendship, masculinity and loneliness. 

At the same time, Hamer’s camera focuses on some marvelously striking images, like the egg-shaped caravans filling a desolate landscape or ladders placed on the walls of a farmhouse. 

KITCHEN STORIES is entertaining and easy to watch.  It also reminds one of the essentials of cinema, how so much can be achieved using basic techniques and camerawork, without reliance on highly paid actors or special effects.

Review by Gilbert Seah.