MOSTLY MARTHA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
MOSTLY MARTHA (DREI STERNE), by writer/director Sandra Nettelbeck, has some nice characters stuck in a thin script. Although its food photography is uniformly delicious, the movie's other ingredients are a bit stale.
Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a hard working chef who never permits herself any free time. An attractive woman, she always wears her hair pulled back sternly into a tight bun. As she works, a few sweaty strands keep getting in front of her eyes.
When Martha has to be out in order to take care of a family emergency, the restaurant's owner hires an additional chef, Mario (Sergio Castellitto). Singing and dancing, Mario is as free-spirited an Italian in the restaurant's kitchen as Martha is an uptight, by-the-book German. Needless to say, they clash. And, of course, they will eventually fall in love. It's all predestined and obvious from the first time that we watch them together.
Martha's emergency is the death of her sister, which inconveniently leaves her sister's eight-year-old daughter, Lina (Maxime Foerste), without parents. Lina's father, who lives somewhere in Italy, has long since gone AWOL. Martha, who can't even take care of herself, is left to cope with Lina. Refusing to eat or attend school, Lina proves to be a real handful. You can probably guess the rest of the story.
Between the sporadically interesting scenes -- the beautiful ones involving food preparation and serving -- I found a way to pass the time. I brushed up on my German. If you do see the film, I recommend fasting ahead of time and booking a nice restaurant for immediately afterwards. That's the way to enjoy the movie.
MOSTLY MARTHA runs 1:45. The film is in German with English subtitles. It is rated PG for "thematic material and mild language" and would be acceptable for anyone old enough to be able to read subtitles.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 23, 2002. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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