Soul Kitchen (2009)

In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.

Director:

Fatih Akin

Writers:

Fatih Akin (screenplay), Adam Bousdoukos (screenplay)

Stars:

Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Pheline Roggan

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Bousdoukos	...	Zinos Kazantsakis
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Illias Kazantsakis
Pheline Roggan	...	Nadine Krüger
Anna Bederke	...	Lucia Faust
Birol Ünel	...	Shayn Weiss
Dorka Gryllus	...	Anna Mondstein
Wotan Wilke Möhring	...	Thomas Neumann
Lucas Gregorowicz	...	Lutz
Demir Gökgöl	...	Sokrates
Cem Akin	...	Milli
Marc Hosemann	...	Ziege
Catrin Striebeck	...	Frau Schuster vom Finanzamt
Ugur Yücel	...	Knochenbrecher
Udo Kier	...	Herr Jung
Monica Bleibtreu	...	Nadines Großmutter

Storyline

In Hamburg, Zinos has a restaurant serving poor-man's fare; he gets by, but his girlfriend has taken a job in Shanghai, he's hurt has back and can't cook, his feckless brother can be on daily parole from jail only if Zinos employs him (though his brother doesn't want to work), a school acquaintance wants to buy the restaurant property, and the tax authority and health inspector are on his case. Zinos hires a temperamental chef and loses all his customers, signs a power of attorney giving his brother full authority at the restaurant, and buys a ticket to Shanghai. Is this a recipe for disaster?

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Plot Keywords:

chef | death of grandmother | prison | greek | poker | 

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Taglines:

"Leben ist, was passiert, waehrend du dabei bist, andere Plaene zu machen" (Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German Greek

Release Date:

25 December 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Aska ruhunu kat

Filming Locations:

Bremen, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

€4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$20,916 (USA) (20 August 2010)

Gross:

$274,385 (USA) (5 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corazón International, Dorje Film, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actress who played Nadine's grandmother (Monica Bleibtreu) in real life was the mother of the actor (Moritz Bleibtreu) who played the role of the brother of the main character in this movie. Monica Bleibtreu died in May 2009 and is remembered in the closing credits.

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Romantics (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Yerli Plaka"
Performed by Ceza and Sezen Aksu

User Reviews

Nicely balanced, generous film from Germany"s most interesting director

With films like Against the Wall, Crossing the Bridge and The Edge of Heaven, Faith Akin has set a high aesthetic bar at which his newest work inevitably stumbles. Which is not to say that the film is a failure by any means, simply that it must be judged as a minor work in this impressive directors oeuvre.

Set in Hamburg's seedy demi-monde, the film relates the fortunes of the Soul Kitchen restaurant and its unhappy-go-lucky proprietor, with a protein-rich narrative arc from wretched normality through multiple adversities to a slightly more hopeful normality. And while the restaurant moves up-scale gastronomically the story remains comfort food throughout, providing plenty of opportunities for comic set pieces and tragi-comic misunderstandings.

What we end up with is a patchwork of scenes, connected by a narrative strand that connects property speculation, prostitution, drugs and music. None of it quite makes sense, but this is a film ruled by the heart and not the head. What it lacks in precision it makes up for in warmth.

In general the performances are impressive, and the unavoidable Moritz Bleibtreu (who seems to be compulsory casting in any German film worth its salt) is particularly engaging as the protagonist's jailbird brother, constantly swinging his prayer beads as hustles.

The film's lightness of touch is perhaps its saving grace: the music complements the story without dominating; food and cookery play a subordinate, if enjoyable role, but never do we get too bogged down in the niceties of nouvelle cuisine. And this must be the first major film in which Skype plays such a major role. Product placement perhaps but very realistically done.

Another enjoyable aspect is the way in which the interplay of cultures

• Greek, Turkish, German, whatever - is handled in a no-nonsense

workmanlike way. Perhaps it takes a German of Turkish extraction to do this. My feeling is that other German directors would be more sheepish in their handling of these issues.

In conclusion I'd say that the film is good, not great, and shows that Faith Akin can also make a gentle, feel-good comedy without compromising his higher aesthetic achievements.