Reviews by metonomas

Kitchen was adapted to film by Ho Yim in 1997. The title of the movie is "Wo ai chu fang", if you're looking for it(hard to find under "kitchen").

Kitchen was adapted to film by Ho Yim in 1997. The title of the movie is "Wo ai chu fang", if you're looking for it(hard to find under "kitchen").

Based on a book by Banana Yoshimoto. The international title is Kitchen(by which it was impossible to find on listal).
The story centeres around three people: a young male hairdresser, Louie, who lives with his transsexual mother Emma and the orphaned Aggie whom they shelter after she lost her grandmother. There is a slowly developing romance between Louie and Aggie, but more on a platonic level. At the same time the history of the characters, most interesting that of the mother unravel trhough conversations.
I watched this in 1998 in a small indie cinema with my new girlfriend and was impressed by the visual style and atmospheric mood. Unfortunately I can't remember much of the story, but there are a few images that got burned into my mind, transparent umbrellas at a rainy funeral and the full moon being reflected in a big kitchen knife that Aggie picks up.

This is not, as suggested by listal, an album by the italian singer Mina, but from a group from Berlin, Germany, ca. 1997-2002. Band members were Christoph Hein, Hannes Lehmann, Masha Qrella, Norman Nitzsche. Mastered partially by Stefan Betke of Pole(awesome miniaml/ambient electronica) and mixed and recorded by people also associated with the german bands Tocotronic and Kante among others.
The music is, except for one song, purely instrumental electronic rock with allures to synthie pop. It reminds me at times of instrumental early Stereolab pieces with cathartic punk rock attitudes, dreamy melodies and a repetitive but downbeat flow. Other artists that come to mind are Ms.John Soda, Trans Am, Tortoise, Lali Puna and Miss Kittin. For me stylistically it belongs to a creative stream of innovation and experimentation of the late 90's that kind of ebbed down around 2001 and changed into something else.
A to B is definitely one of the records I would take to an island and IMO one of the best albums of the late 90's/early 2000's.

Yella got some hype at the 2008 Berlinale, but I've never found the time since then to watch it. I had seen Petzolds "The State I Am In" and liked it so my expectations were maybe set a little to high for yella.
It's the story of a woman who comes back to her home town only to leave again for a new job. On arrival she is stalked by her (ex?)husband, who tries to kill both of them by steering off a bridge the next day but fails. She manages to still catch the train to the city of her new job, but finds the company being closed down when she gets there. In her hotel a businessman offers her a job as an assistant. The story meanders along in business meetings and hotel rooms, with occasional mystery from the stalking husband.

I found this hard to watch because the language is very contrived. It's a general problem i have with german actors and script writers, but here it particularly stands out due to the slow pace of the dialogues. The story is minimalistic and not really captivating in terms of plot development. It's more of a character study of the heroine and as such has a few interesting moments, e.g. when yella seems to have hallucinations during a business meeting. Other than that I found it too boring to watch the last 20 minutes of it.