Martha amuses and delights theater-goers

The film Mostly Martha is, simply put, a delight. It is a film of complicated characters that act out their roles with passion and honesty. It is a film with emphasis on family and child rearing. It is a film about food. And it is a film with a seductive and attractive German actress who looks really hot in her pajamas.

Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a top-notch German chef whose passion is cooking, but only because she is great at it. She is obsessed with her job and her restaurant's kitchen means everything to her. Business-oriented and independent, she has no personal life and is not used to having to deal with people. The conflict arrives as a family misfortune, the death of her sister, makes Martha become the caretaker of her niece, Lina (Maxime Foerste), whose Italian father's whereabouts are unknown. Lina is just as independent as her aunt and is a challenging child to rear. Martha does everything she can for Lina but her long hours at the restaurant make her unable to take care of her niece the way she would want to. She has to resort to inept babysitters and a friendly neighbor who has a crush on her to watch over Lina. The mornings are havoc; Lina is always late for school and is consistently having problems. She cannot make any friends, and seems socially awkward.

If that isn't enough, the kooky and lively Italian chef Mario (Sergio Castellito) invades Martha's niche, her restaurant's kitchen, and poses a threat to Martha's iron cooking mitt. Martha is convinced that Mario, with a personable touch to his cooking, will take over her establishment, so the two do not get along. All in all, Martha's life has become hell.

Mostly Martha is a movie that shows how Martha's life is affected by all of these incidents that seem to occur at the worst times. Lina will not eat her cooking and misses her father. Since no one can take care of her, Martha is forced to take her niece to the restaurant with her, which does not sit well with her boss. Meanwhile, she gets the feeling that, more and more, this Italian newcomer is taking over the kitchen that she has worked so long for to make her own.

But then something magical happens. It's as if this Italian is a blessing for her, for his ability to cheerily inhale all of Martha's bad moods and for getting along with Lina, who loves his cooking. This makes a friendship of necessity develop between Martha and Mario which evolves into an unthinkable romance.

The beauty of this movie lies in the fundamental change in Martha, who becomes a passionate Italian who loves to cook, a stark contrast to the cold and professional German who cooks because she is good at it. Throughout this change, Martha experiences moments of helplessness and fatigue; she is introspectively portrayed in her pajamas as she thinks about life and the future. She is portrayed most attractively now when she seems most vulnerable or perhaps when she takes three drags of a cigarette after being overwhelmed in an argument with Lina. In either case, Martha is one hot woman and the fact that she cooks makes her all the more attractive.

Maybe we liked this movie because we're into hot German women. Or maybe because we love good food. But hot German women who cook good food make for an irresistible combination. Whichever the case, Mostly Martha is a movie that combines simple emotions with beautiful cinematography that will make you think about the importance of family and leave you with a dreamy romantic smile.