I talk too much about German movies

I was rather surprised recently when I saw a preview for No Reservations, a new Catherine Zeta-Jones romantic comedy, and recognized it as a remake of the German movie Mostly Martha. Mostly Martha is the story of an obsessive, emotionally isolated chef at a top restaurant whose life changes when she finds herself caring for her orphaned niece while trying to deal with the easy-going Italian chef brought in to help at the restaurant. Martha is the kind of person who, when ordered by her boss to attend therapy, spends her appointments quietly discussing various methods for preparing pigeon. The problem is that I can't see Catherine Zeta-Jones playing this role as anything but outgoing, flirtatious Catherine Zeta-Jones, rather than the reserved, slightly awkward character that made the original work. This is a very bad omen for the remake, and I anticipate yet another horribly cookie cutter romanic comedy. I am hating Hollywood right now.

On the subject of German movies, I saw The Lives of Others when it was out in theaters and it was probably one of my favorite movies this year. It's about a German Stasi officer observing a playwright, eventually becoming drawn into his life. The AV Club bemoaned it's lack of cross-cutting and other distractions to "keep the audience wound up", but that's part of what I liked about it. The tone of the movie matched the quiet stoicism of the main character himself, and the whole thing came together to feel more real than most movies. Matt seems to have liked it a lot, too, although he's probably tired of me talking about it by now.

It's not German, but I also have to recommend the Norwegian comedy Kitchen Stories, about an efficiency expert in early 50s Sweden sent out to observe the habits an uncooperative Norewegian farmer. The study requires that he regularly sit in a high chair in the corner of the room without speaking to the subject for weeks, which leads to funny situations but also makes you painfully aware of their mutual isolation. I just randomly picked this up off the shelf without looking too closely, and was very pleasantly surprised. Being yet another movie on voyeurism, it is also rather quiet, but interspersed with both hilarious and touching moments.

Update 25.7.07: Sadly, the actor who played the Stasi officer so movingly in The Lives of Others has died.