Soul Kitchen (M)

Directed by Fatih Akin

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Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos) is torn between two loves and both of them are breaking his heart.

Girlfriend Nadine (Pheline Roggan) is swapping Hamburg for Shanghai in pursuit of a career, while his beloved Soul Kitchen restaurant can't get by on just its regular clientele.

They may love this greasy spoon and its deep fried menu but attracting a higher class of patron to his warehouse in Wilhelmsburg seems remote.

That's until Zinos witnesses an incident during Nadine's leaving dinner at an upmarket eatery. Outraged at being asked by a diner to serve gazpacho soup hot, chef Shayn (Birol Unel) quits in disgust. Seizing his chance, Zinos persuades Shayn to come and work in his kitchen.

Unfortunately he's not the only new employee. On partial parole from prison, Zinos' lazy brother Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu) requires work as part of his release. He also needs a close eye kept on him to ensure he doesn't relapse into his criminal ways.

If that wasn't enough, Zinos then does his back in shifting the dishwasher and, to it cap it all, the new menu has gone down disastrously with the locals. There's no way they want smaller portions and, heaven forbid, vegetables.

Very much a change of pace for German born Turkish director Fatih Akin, Soul Kitchen is a thoroughly entertaining and engaging comedy. Better known for his psychological dramas Head On and the Edge of Heaven, (the first two-thirds of a proposed Love, Death and the Devil trilogy), Akin is here inspired by the German ``heimatfilms'' (the equivalent of the British kitchen-sink drama) of the 1950s and co-writer and star Bousdoukos' own misadventures in owning a Hamburg taverna.

And although Akin cites Boogie Nights and Goodfellas as templates, Soul Kitchen is probably more like a cross between Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Wayne Wang's Blue in the Face with a protagonist getting dragged into the criminal underworld and a business location becoming a main character in the story.  (Akin deliberately shot in Hamburg locations that are about to be ``gentrified''). 

The acting is first rate with the always reliable Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run) and Akin regular Bousdoukos (Head On) the standouts.

As well as a hilarious meditation on the virtues and potential mishaps of a Skype relationship, one of the other highlights of Soul is the toe-tapping soundtrack that includes everything from 70s funk (Kool and the Gang, Sam Cooke) to Greek rembetiko, Hamburg hip-hop and a Hans Albers standard.

*In German and Greek with English subtitles.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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