KITCHEN STORIES (Salmer fra kjokkenet)
Reviewed by: Harvey S. Karten Grade: B IFC Films Directed by: Bent Hamer Written by: Jorgen Bergmark, Bent Hamer Cast: Joachim Calmeyer, Tomas Norstrom, Bvjorn Floberg, Reine Brynolfsson Screened at: Preview 9, NYC, 11/12/03
One of the major insights of our time,known by pedagogues the world over, is that the teacher often learns more than the student that if you want to learn a subject in greater depth than you think possible, go ahead and instruct others. Treating the term "teacher" in a broad sense to include psychoanalysts, mentors, advisers, social workers and the like, there's little question that those who observe a scientific or psychological experiment or just observe others for a lengthy time and for any reason at all are going to be subjects themselves, learning something about their own lives just as they find out about others. Bent Hamer, who deliberately and for good reason lightly directs "Kitchen Stories" (Norway's candidate for an Academy Award), styles this adorable tale "Kitchen Stories" together with co-writer Jorgen Bergmark, Though its genre cannot be placed in a neat cubbyhole, you'd probably call this a comedy certainly not of a kind with the vulgar but effective "American Pie" or "Road Trip," but one of a Checkhovian nature. By that, we mean that this is a slice of life, the writers, director and cast evoking the meaning of it all but as a frothy confection rather than something that would challenge an Ingmar Bergman.
Opening in the 1950's, the film tells of Sweden's plans to make Scandinavian kitchens more modern and simpler for housewives, demonstrating the potato peeler an important breakthrough for the Northern European cultures whose diet consists for the most part of herring and spuds. When domestic scientists decide to look into the kitchen practices of male bachelors living alone in the sticks of Northern Norway, Dr. Malmberg (Reine Brynolfsson) sends a team under Grant (Bjorn Floberg) to move in with some of these crusty types with the provision that they merely watch. They are prohibited from talking to the subjects, eating and drinking with them, or giving them clues on how to make their survival easier. When Folke (Tomas Norstrom) moves into the lodging of one Isak (Joachim Calmeyer) who resists at first but admits Folke since the Swedes promise him a horse-- he acts according to regulations, but since he is forbidden to communicate with his subject, we're left with a silent film for quite a while one which could even be confused with Norway's very first feature movie, "The Perils of a Fisherman," made in 1907.
Can you figure out what happens next? Either this turns into a silent for the rest of its 95 minutes or Folke, unable to resist, at first plays a few pranks on his subject (moving his salt cellar when he's not looking and then silently pointing out its location) while for his part Isak comically retaliates (observing his observer through a small hole in the bedroom floor).
Salmer fra kjokkenet, as the film is called in its native Norwegian (English subtitles of course), could presumably fare well as a gentle comedy, but Hamer goes further with the small drama that he has. The friendly rivalry between Norway and Sweden is evoked by several jibes, starting with a judgment handed down about Swedish photographic equipment. (Traditionally, Norwegians have laughed at Swedes for being so workaholic and materialistic while Swedes have called Norwegians lazy and backward, but the nations share so many cultural aspects that a border crossing shown here is policed by a single guard.) Grant, the humor-challenged supervisor of the study who fires one of his observers for sharing a drink with his subject, indirectly comes in for a ribbing when Isak issues his philosophy, one which is reinforced by his dying horse: Our death is predetermined. In other words, don't take your work seriously: you'll never get out of this Earth alive. Friendship is what matters. While boss-man Grant will never change, Folke his career as an observer burning out fast comes away from the job a better man, one who takes decisive steps to make his lonely life more bearable.
Not Rated. 95 minutes.(c) 2003 by Harvey Karten at Harveycritic@cs.com
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