Soul Kitchen: Movie Review

Soul Kitchen: Movie Review

Soul Kitchen
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu
Director: Faith Akin
Winner of the Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2009, Soul Kitchen is the tale of Zinos (Bousdoukos) a German restauranteur whose life is at a crossroads.
His girlfriend Nadine is about to fly to Shanghai for a job, his ex con brother Ilias (Bleibtreu) is on parole and his Hamburg hangar based restaurant, The Soul Kitchen is facing a crisis with a lack of patrons.
One day Zinos hires a new chef - and despite the initial frostiness towards the cordon bleu chef's offerings, somehow the kitchen manages to take off and become the hip centre of town.
But when Zinos' back gives out, he realizes he has to try and heal his broken heart and head to Shanghai. So he leaves the restaurant with Ilias - and that's when everything starts to go wrong.
Soul Kitchen is a vibrant comic film with a bustling cool soundtrack (it's got one of the best opening scenes I've seen in a long time in terms of hooking you in and getting you grooving)- it's also possibly one of the most over the top pieces of cinema I've seen in a while, thanks in part to the apparent overacting of Bousdoukos at odd moments.
Yet it is a great performance from him - he really anchors the whole drama/comedy and the shambolic relationships of those around him.
It's really about the importance of family and home - for Zinos, his family is at the Soul Kitchen (although he doesn't realize it) and the collection of oddballs who come and go during all hours.

There's screwball moments, warmth and heart in this kitchen - and the final result is somewhat of a crazy yet very digestible and insanely enjoyable mix.