Imdbidia
A German film that tells the story of chef Martha and the changes in her life and job after her orphan niece moves to her place and a new Italian chef joins the team in her restaurant. Love will be a catalyst in Martha's personal life, and also in the way she approaches food and her job as a chef.The movie is a nice mix of drama, romance, and "foodies" movie, with stereotypical characters: the flourish flirtatious Italian, the hard resilient cold German, and the rebellious troubled kid.The believability of the movie is heavily indebted to Martina Gedeck's performance as Martha and to child Maxime Foerste as her nice Lina. They both play with great conviction their respective hard characters. Sergio Castellitto is very charming as the Italian chef Mario, and plays his character with a mix of downgraded Italianism and Flourish Germanism, so to speak. The three of them have a great chemistry on camera and carry on the story well.Said this, I found that the romance story, although charming, was underdeveloped, while the struggling relationship with the kid was completely predictable and unoriginal. In fact this is just a traditional film recipe well carried on and well acted. However, the movie received an accolade of local and European awards and lead Hollywood to adapt the movie in No Reservations, adapting the plot to American tastes and turning it into a straight comedy.An enjoyable film with stereotypical characters and situations, and very good performances. Perfect for foodies!
lord woodburry
mostly Marta is a delicate tale about cultural conflicts under the veneer of European unity. Here comes Marta (Martina Gedeck), the imperious chef of a five star restaurant who rules the immaculate kitchen as her private fiefdom. Tragedy strikes. Her sister is killed in an Alpine accident and Marta inherits her niece Lisa as a ward.In the interim the restaurateur brought Mario (Sergio Castellitto) into the kitchen as sous chef. Mario is everything Marta is not: noisy, nosy, personable. The fat would be in the fire, but the restaurateur notes the change in taste of the well heeled diners for leaner foods.Can opposites attract before they destroy each other? The film is delicate throughout dealing with the knotty issues of cultural conflicts with great sensitivity.Mario: Why would (your niece Lina Klein) want to stay with her family in sunny Italy when she can return to cold and grey Germany to live there with a nut case like you? The film was remade and moved to an American milieu in NO RESERVATIONS. While Cathrine Beta Jones renders a bravura performance in the remake as the head chef, the remake is no match for the original.
dailyplanet
"Mostly Martha" was a Netflix rental I did not expect to like as much as I did. First, there's the matter of the spoken language being German, with Engish only in the subtitles. Then there's the off-putting character of Martha herself, a restaurant chef who's both dismal and a certifiable nut case. Martha's stoicism breaks down only when her obsessive-compulsive side takes over as she combats chaotic outbreaks in the kitchen -- and in her life once her little orphan niece gets thrust into it.Martha's apartment reflects her personality in the spareness of its decor and grayed-down color scale. This is all about control, and Martha struggles mightily to keep it as her world tumbles down around her. How can this scenario be funny? Actually it is -- in an approaching-train-wreck sort of way. When Martha's boss brings a male Italian chef into the kitchen, all hell breaks loose. At first I found each of the main characters in this film almost painful to watch -- and yet as the story slowly unfolded, I was surprised to find lovable aspects in every one of these people -- particularly the laid-back Italian chef who proves to be an unexpectedly joyous ingredient added to the mix in the kitchen. Ultimately "Mostly Martha" is a lovely, life-affirming story and I tell you now this film is a jewel. You will come away from it feeling cheerier, with a greater appreciation of life in general. It's even more heartening to watch the second time around.
DICK STEEL
The kitchen makes for a good setting for movies. There's wonderful food, chefs with personality, and a rat... wait, that's Ratatouille, Pixar's latest offering which unfortunately won't be shown here until the end of next month. On the other hand, a trailer for a romantic comedy seemed to have caught my eye. Also set in a kitchen, it stars Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart opposite each other as chefs who don't get along but ultimately fall in love, you know, the usual opposites attract formula, in No Reservations.But I was surprised that it was actually based on a German movie called Mostly Martha back in 2001, based on a pickup at the library, and reading through the synopsis, it just couldn't be more coincidental as that. Hollywood has been poaching remake rights to a host of movies in Asia, from horror like Shutter, to crime thrillers like Confession of Pain, to Korean romantic comedies like My Sassy Girl and the likes. And of course, remakes and adaptations of movies from the European continent too. I wonder how much more original stories can Tinseltown spin on its own, without resorting to cannibalizing from others.Written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck, Mostly Martha is not your typical romantic comedy, contrary to what the Hollywood remake would suggest (from the trailers so far). The premise is of course similar. Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is the head chef for a restaurant, a to the book, no nonsense, proud chef at that. She has a rigid lifestyle, and finds herself so high strung that on her employer's advice, reluctantly checks herself in for therapy. Her niece Lina (Maxime Foerste) drops into her life one day, and both find it difficult to adapt to one another, with Lina at first glance being your typical stubborn, bratty child. And things become worse when Martha has to face up to competition in her own kitchen, with the arrival of Italian chef Mario (Sergio Castellitto), a man whose laissez-faire style just drives her nuts.If Hollywood were to take the script from here, it would make it a simple, expected romantic tangle between Martha and Mario, in which the trailer for No Reservations seem to suggest. But Mostly Martha is more than that. It's deeper, more subtle, has negligible snarky remarks passing off as comedy, and doesn't turn the kid into a precocious cutesy tot. It's steers towards powerful drama territory, with each scene beautifully shot, minimal dialogue which just catches your attention span, and subtle philosophical ideas tossed into the whole works. It examines the relationships between all characters in a very engaging manner, and doesn't neglect any of the main leads.What emerges is a classy movie, with interesting reminders on life and living life. I particularly liked how fine dining gets weaved into the narrative, be it the preparation, or the properties, or just to decorate the set. Don't watch this on an empty stomach, please! What I found true is its account that unlike food, there is no recipe to life which you can follow step by step to a T, based on fixed parameters which if followed accurately, will bring out that flavour in the end result. Life can't be run that way, and certainly there is no recipe or formula on how to lead a successful life, having success defined by one's values.My advise would be, given that Hollywood has adopted key scenes in its own release, and signs do seem to point No Reservations towards a true blue romantic comedy, if you'd like, watch the Hollywood version, but please comeback to the original source material, and you'll understand why Hollywood wanted to remake this, and for you to experience the actual, rich storyline that Mostly Martha (or its German title Bella Martha) is actually all about.
