Kitchen Stories (2003) ( Salmer fra kjøkkenet ) ( Psalmer från köket )

Kitchen Stories (2003) (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Salmer fra kjøkkenet
Alternate Title: Psalmer från köket
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Norwegian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
90 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2003 and produced in:
Norway ( Scandinavia, Iceland )
Sweden ( Scandinavia, Iceland )

Directed By:
Bent Hamer

Written By:
Bent Hamer
Jörgen Bergmark

Actors:
Joachim Calmeyer ..... Isak Bjørvik
Tomas Norström ..... Folke Nilsson
Bjørn Floberg ..... Grant
Reine Brynolfsson ..... Malmberg
Sverre Anker Ousdal ..... Dr. Jack Zac. Benjaminsen
Leif Andrée ..... Dr. Ljungberg
Gard B. Eidsvold ..... Bakkerman
Lennart Jähkel ..... Green
Trond Brænne ..... Ordforer
Bjørn Jenseg ..... Vaktmester
Jan Gunnar Røise ..... Vaktmesterassistent
Karin Lunden ..... Svensk selskapsdame
Päivi Laakso ..... Finsk selskapsdame

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.

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.

In the years following WWII, a research institute sets out to modernize the home kitchen by observing a handful of rural Norwegian bachelors. In the small town of Landstad, middle-aged Isak is one such research subject who regrets ever agreeing to participate in the study. Nevertheless, he is observed by Folke and the two develop a strange friendship until the observer becomes sick.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 16 March, 2016.