A Touch of Spice (2003)
"Politiki kouzina" (original title)

"A Touch of Spice" is a story about a young Greek boy (Fanis) growing up in Istanbul, whose grandfather, a culinary philosopher and mentor,teaches him that both food and life require a ... See full summary »

Director:

Tassos Boulmetis

Writer:

Tassos Boulmetis

Stars:

Georges Corraface, Ieroklis Michaelidis, Renia Louizidou

11 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Georges Corraface	...	Fanis Iakovidis (as George Corraface)
Ieroklis Michaelidis	...	Savvas Iakovidis
Renia Louizidou	...	Soultana Iakovidou
Tamer Karadagli	...	Mustafa
Basak Köklükaya	...	Saime
Tassos Bandis	...	Grandpa Vasilis
Stelios Mainas	...	Uncle Aimilios
Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos	...	Fanis - 18 years old
Markos Osse	...	Fanis - 8 years old
Thodoros Exarhos	...	Thrasyvoulos
Athinodoros Prousalis	...	Iordanis
Kakia Panagiotou	...	Aunt Elpiniki
Dina Mihailidou	...	Dorothea
Themis Panou	...	Osman Beis
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gözde Akyildiz	...	Saime - 5 years old

Storyline

"A Touch of Spice" is a story about a young Greek boy (Fanis) growing up in Istanbul, whose grandfather, a culinary philosopher and mentor,teaches him that both food and life require a little salt to give them flavor; they both require... A Touch of Spice. Fanis grows up to become an excellent cook and uses his cooking skills to spice up the lives of those around him. 35 years later he leaves Athens and travels back to his birthplace of Istanbul to reunite with his grandfather and his first love; he travels back only to realize that he forgot to put a little bit of spice in his own life.

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Plot Keywords:

spice | grandfather | cooking | reunion | card | 

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Taglines:

Cinnamon... is bitter and sweet, just like a woman

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

Greece Turkey

Language:

English Greek Turkish

Release Date:

24 October 2003 (Greece)

Also Known As:

A Touch of Spice

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Village Roadshow Productions, Greek Film Center, FilmNet

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on Tassos Boulmetis's personal experiences

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Quotes

Fanis Iakovides: I realised then that other things can be cooked besides food.

User Reviews

Good, very good

I just watched the film for the second time in two days and loved it. Initialy, you may be forgiven of thinking that the film is a testament to nostalgia, love, and the preocupation of the Greeks with good food. Nevertheless, although cooking is the main theme of the film, halfway through you realize that there is a serious story behind the gastronomy.

The production, computer graphics and sound could be better but that doesn't really matter. Cinema is about the whole product and in this case it is superb. Good casting with some splendid performances, great cinematography, excellent direction, great music. If that's not enough for you, the film communicates a fine and simple philosophy about life, the universe and everything - one that we used to identify with but sadly we are rapidly moving away from it.

I hope the film is distributed outside Greece. I wouldn't be surprised if it won a few international awards.