Review of Kitchen Stories (2003) by V H — 21 Mar 2004

This is an odd little film set in the 1950's about a team of Swedish scientists sent to Norway to observe the kitchen habits of Norwegian bachelors in an attempt to improve efficiency. The groundrules for the study require that the observers don't interact with their subjects. They live in tiny trailers parked outside the subjects' homes, and when on duty, sit perched in tall lifeguard-like chairs in the corner of the subjects' kitchens, silently watching and taking notes on clipboards.

The film focuses on one such pair: an oddball named Isak and his observer, Folke. Though he initially volunteered for the study, Isak has since changed his mind and is a very unwilling participant, giving Folke very little to observe. For the first half of the movie, there's precious little dialogue as the two men sit in the kitchen day after day, silently sizing each other up. Predictably, somewhat of a bond is eventually forged and an odd sort of forbidden friendship develops.

And that's basically it. Very little dialogue and not a whit of action. Just two middle-aged guys sitting around a kitchen, often in silence. And yet, the film is not without humor, albeit very subtle, bone-dry humor. It's fairly enjoyable to watch, if you like watching quirky characters doing quirky things at a very slow pace. It's really not a bad little film if you're willing to accept the fact that nothing's ever going to happen.

In fact, the major impediment to my further enjoyment wasn't the film itself, but the audience. Though sparsely attended, the theatre was constantly filled with individual titters and chortles and snickers and guffaws, like the laugh-track from some really bad sitcom. Believe me, nothing in this movie is laugh-out-loud funny; it's smile-inducing funny at most. But some people seem to have the need to verbalize even their mildest amusement, which tends to drive me up the wall. And every single one of them was at this screening!