Kitchen Stories

There's nothing casual about the way this film has been put together, yet that painstaking care leads to laughter that is completely unrestrained.

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.

In the landscape of contemporary movie comedies, Kitchen Stories is like a rejuvenating blast of crisp Nordic air.

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.

Mostly a well-acted, expertly directed comedy with characters and situations of truly universal appeal.

What a pleasure it is not to be hectored by a director as we laugh our own little laughs, watching a profound story unfold.

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.