I like odd ball & foreign movies, and this is certainly one. I have thought of it as my favorite movie for the last 4 or 5 years. If you like something a little different, try it. I loaned it to my neighbor, a psycology professor, and he agreed with me - very good (so I'm not nuts!). :-)

J'ai adore ce film. Tout en etant humoristique, il explique les realites de la recherche de terrain. Je conseille ce film a tous ceux qui planifient utiliser l'observation dans leurs travaux de recherche. Bon visionnement!

I have for some time now heard people talking about Kitchen Stories (or Salmer fra Kjokkenet - the norwegian title) and I finally decided to buy it. And I was not disappointed. Honestly; it is one of my all time favorite moves! (And I do watch alot of movies). It is such a heartfelt, funny, easy going movie with a soft, caring touch. It stayed with me the following week.

If you're not familiar with the 1950s or do not know anything about Norway or Sweden you might not get all the funny little moments or lines. When that is said this is a movie that I believe everyone can relate to and you will be drawn into the emotions the characters are feeling.

The movie is about the interaction between a Swedish and a Norwegian man. The Swedish man comes to the Norwegian farmer to observe the Norwegian kitchen life. He cannot talk or interact with his subject. The Norwegian farmer is not too keen about being observed. And a small "war" evolves between the two men. And then there's the incident with the egg (that everyone is talking about). Without spoiling too much; let's just say the egg incident changes things.

An absurd, funny, heart felt movie you have to see at least once! A picture, a look, an understanding can tell more than a thousand words! The film will touch you in one way or another :)

Isak did not care to speak to Folke. Folke was not to speak to Isak. Such were the rules unspoken and otherwise. This is "Kitchen Stories," or, as this movie is known in Norway, "Salmer Fra Kjokkenet."

Isak, as the subject of Folke's sociological research, offered himself up to be studied thinking a horse was to be provided, and when a toy horse arrived instead of a breathing one, on strike he went. Thus began their banal arrangement.

Things delved into a quiet silence, each respecting the other's space in the midst of themselves. Each watched the other. One took notes, the other remembered. Soon, they realized how similar they were: two single men doing little more than avoiding relationships, living alone.

Isak is a curmudgeoned older bachelor living in Norway, whilst Folke, also a bachelor, makes a living studying people like Isak. However, having never dialogued with his subjects, Folke, he never saw more them as more than moving objects to be charted and analyzed. Within a few cups of coffee, two lonely men become brothers, seeing there is something more important than a self-induced hermitage.

Their relationship develops with subtle sophistication, with Folke bringing in rare treats his elderly aunt sends him, and Isak, saving his friend from being run over by a train.

Like 84 Charing Cross Road, "Kitchen Stories" is graceful in its presentation and unfolding of phileo love.

--Brockeim

This wonderful, quirky film has volumes to say about the need for human intimacy. Set in 1950, as Swedish "home scientists" invade the homes of Norwegian bachelors to study the use of their kitchens, the film describes the limits of scientific inquiry. Perched in what can only be called an adult-size highchair, the home scientist assigned to one bachelor attempts to unobtrusively observe his every movement. Unlike a lab rat, however, the bachelor modifies his behavior to accommodate this intrusion, and before too long the two men are making tentative attempts to alleviate the boredom of it all. A friendship forms that so totally compromises the study that they sometimes switch places as observer and observed. Finally, it is a story about a kind of male bonding, especially as a friend of the bachelor finds himself neglected and takes desperate measures to get rid of the man who has supplanted him. A neatly told story, all the neater for taking place in the snow-covered winter months of the Norwegian countryside.