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Kitchen Stories

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Jörgen Bergmark
Bent Hamer
Directed by: Bent Hamer
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 20, 2004
DVD: December 14, 2004
Running Time: 92 minutes, Color
Origin: Norway / Sweden
Language(s): Norwegian / Swedish (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Joachim Calmeyer, Tomas Norström, Bjørn Floberg, Reine Brynolfsson, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Leif Andrée, Gard B. Eidsvold, and Lennart Jähkel
In the early '50s the Home Research Institute in Sweden sends 18 observers to the rural district of Landstad, Norway, with its surplus of bachelors, to study the kitchen routines of single men. (IFC Films)
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
There's nothing casual about the way this film has been put together, yet that painstaking care leads to laughter that is completely unrestrained.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Features an absurdist sensibility that ultimately melts your heart. It's certainly one of the stranger movies you'll see.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
In the end, it's not the answer to the kitchen mystery that matters but the revelation that there's ultimately no difference between this bachelor scientist and his bachelor subject.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Serves to champion human irrepressibility and unpredictability. It's the flip side to the defeatism of "Distant," but with parallels, both in the very deliberate pacing and moments of visual wit.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's a film that triumphs in small ways and satisfyingly demonstrates how our human nature is based on both the eccentricity of our hearts and the quirky workings of our heads.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
If you're in the mood for a quiet, beautifully acted little drama, liberally spiked with comedy, about the universal desires of the human heart, this may be the obscure gem you're looking for.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
May, at times, be deadpan to the point of stiffness, but it's far from dead.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Folke and Isak have nowhere near the dimensions of the pair in "Waiting for Godot" or in "Endgame," but on his level, Hamer follows Beckett's belief that, especially in an odd situation, two can make a multitude.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
His painstakingly coordinated scenes and exquisitely timed takes are the filmmaking equivalent of wringing every single use from a paper towel and then folding it before disposal.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Some comedies make you laugh out loud. This one makes you smile inwardly, but often.
Film Threat D. W. Smith
Like all good films, it raises these types of questions, answering some, and leaving some for you to answer yourself.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
In the wonderfully droll Kitchen Stories, Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer takes an already inspired premise and weaves it into a spry absurdist comedy that also manages to find some considerable warmth.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
The film is saying that, left to their own devices, all men would devolve into a morass of monastic grouches. Kitchen Stories is a prime piece of comic anthropology.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Hamer, a meticulous observer himself, is a minimalist with heart.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
In the landscape of contemporary movie comedies, Kitchen Stories is like a rejuvenating blast of crisp Nordic air.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Acted and directed with a savvy understatement that perfectly matches the eccentric story.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Mostly a well-acted, expertly directed comedy with characters and situations of truly universal appeal.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer
The film pays off eventually with a lovely story of friendship between two lonely men.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's a simple story told well, with plenty of lighthearted moments and kernels of thought-provoking material, but little to really excite the cinematic appetite.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie's gentle humor and offbeat whimsy prove that humanity trumps bureaucratic foolishness, in Norway or anywhere else.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It's hilarious - in a Scandinavian Sartre-esque sort of way.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
The film's concept is so absurd and Hamer goes about developing it with such a regimented structure that you have to believe that the filmmaker is poking fun at himself and the world he knows well.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The humor is a bit dry for my taste, but director Bent Hamer and his actors know what they're doing every step of the way.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Hamer perfectly captures that post-WWII spirit of better living through science by positioning streamlined Swedish cars and hump-backed trailers against the timeless Norwegian landscape.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Seems too subtle at times and too obvious at others, but Hamer strings together pieces of conversation and layers of voyeurism (everybody in the movie is watching somebody) into a moving study of the perils of presumption.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
What a pleasure it is not to be hectored by a director as we laugh our own little laughs, watching a profound story unfold.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
The film appears consistently poised to go deeper but instead hangs back, making it less substantial than it might have been. Yet the sweet-natured story's gentle humor and poignancy should draw appreciative audiences.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The icy whimsy of Kitchen Stories is certainly well sustained, but you don't laugh at the movie so much as wait for the joke to thaw.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
An enjoyable study of ridiculous regimentation and a sure balm to anyone who has overdosed on the efficient designs at Ikea.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
By the end, Hamer's crisp, prickly compositions go soft.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
If you've ever staggered out of IKEA oppressed by the clean, inhuman lines of a thousand affordable dinette sets, you may get a kick out of Bent Hamer's comedy Kitchen Stories.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Slight but sardonic, Norwegian director Bent Hamer's deadpan Kitchen Stories makes a taciturn comedy of nothingness out of color-coordinated '50s coziness and Scandinavian social planning.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Nacho G. gave it an8:
Beautiful, moving, humble picture. A real joy to watch!
Jao gave it an8:
Probably the best movie about friendship I've seen since Breakfast Club. Please don't think this is like Breakfast Club at all, in fact in no way are the two alike. You do get the same feeling from both, where there is hope in anyone at anytime to bring you happiness in a time when you least expect it. Add a well written script and Kitchen Stories will leave you with a smile.
Jonathan S. gave it a10:
A gentle, beautiful film about the development of a friendship.
Sally D. gave it a9:
I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. The gradual shift in the relationship between the men was intelligent and very believable. The subtle theme of Norwegian-Swedish relations after the war added richness and complexity to the film. I have visited Norway and am aware that the resentment of the Norwegians towards the Swedes persisits to this day so it's interesting that this was addressed in such an understated but powerful way in this film. My take on the character of Folke was that he felt guiltyabout Sweden's neutrality which might explain his getting sick shortly after they crossed the border. It is also telling that he chose to move into Isak's house in Norway at the end of the film. Despite this serious theme however, I was delighted by the comic scenes in the film and laughed more than I do at many so-called comedies. The humor is gentle and, while it is poking fun at the "positivism" of the domestic engineering scientists, it is not at the expense of any individual character. While I felt initially put off by the gray presence of Folke that pretty quickly turned into sympathy for his impossible observing job from that absurd chair. Both the superb writing and acting managed to convey the quirky humanness of every character. Overall, Ithought this was one of the best films I have seen in a long time. It's the kind of film that I expect will stay with me for a long time and one I will be sure to pass on to friends and family.
Mank gave it a 10:
It's enough to jolly anyone out of a black mood. a really warm, lovely gem of a film - the best one i saw at the Melbourne International Film Festival, i think.
Cameron S. gave it a 7:
A comic examination about two grown men bonding.
Seth F. gave it a 9:
Very funny yet poignant.
