Kitchen Stories (2003)

There is something about the Scandinavians, maybe it's the weather and lack of sunlight, but their films are always very droll, and about people who are very, very lonely. In Kitchen Stories, despite the absurd premise of Swedish ergonomics researchers observing the kitchen habits of single Norwegian men, Bent Hamer's film is much more a minimalist drama about male bonding. The Bechdel Test is often brought up to showcase how women in films never talk about anything other than men, but Kitchen Stories is perhaps the first film about male friendship in which women are never mentioned as desired objects. Rather we are firmly in a man's world, albeit a rather lonely one. Folke Nilsson is assigned to observe the stubborn and anti-social Isak Bjørvik, and while they are not supposed to talk to one another, it is not long before the initial tension is overcome, and the two develop a close bond. Hamer has been described as the Norwegian Wes Anderson, but this film is anything but gratingly self-aware, in fact, it is a very quiet, and like the subject it deals with, very observational film. His shots are often static, and make use of very drab colors, like green, brown, black, and white. The small-town setting, with snow piled high, reminds me of my own New England home, and for that reason, there was an additional level of connection with this one on my part. Hamer does occasionally dip in some hamstrung sentimentality with his use of heart-tugging music, but those moments are few and far in between. A highly original film with a unique outlook on life.