Soul Kitchen

2009 Comedy

A low-budget restaurateur finds himself in a big vat of trouble in this comedy from director Fatih Akin. Zinos Kazantsakis (Adam Bousdoukos) runs a cheap restaurant in a run-down warehouse distract that he calls the Soul Kitchen. While the food isn't very good, it doesn't cost much and a regular clientele shows up each evening for cheap beer, filling food, and the company of their peers. Bad luck follows Zinos like a shadow, and when his girlfriend, Nadine (Pheline Roggan), runs off to China, he decides to follow, putting his brother (Moritz Bleibtreu) in charge of the restaurant. However, his brother is a convicted criminal, and before long the city's underworld has taken over the place and tax collectors are threatening to shut them down. Zinos returns after Nadine pledges her heart to another, and discovers his diner is a shambles; hoping to put the Soul Kitchen back on its feet, Zinos hires a flashy gourmet chef (Birol Unel) to revamp the menu, but soon he's alienated his old customers while new ones haven't taken their place. Soul Kitchen received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. more..

Director: Fatih Akin

Starring: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol Ãœnel, Anna Bederke, Pheline Roggan

Reviews

  • This is a picture whose dance steps are determined by any number of mishaps and misfortunes; like the dance floor of a great club on a good night, it's gorgeous, unruly and exhilarating all at once.

    Stephanie Zacharek - Movieline

    27 April 2013

  • Who knew this German-born Turkish filmmaker could perpetrate a delirious farce-in German and Greek with good English subtitles-that doesn't flag for a single one of its 99 minutes?

    Joe Morgenstern - The Wall Street Journal

    27 April 2013

  • This new picture is mainly in the spirit of fun, a loose, generally good-natured comedy with screwball overtones.

    Walter Addiego - The San Francisco Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • This is a party, and you're either having a good time or wondering when Akin is going to get down to business. But for an hour and a half, fun is the business.

    Wesley Morris - The Boston Globe

    27 April 2013

  • The funky, enjoyable Hamburg-set comedy Soul Kitchen is a celebration of co-writer-director Fatih Akin's home base, a spacious, moody city of apparently limitless industrial warehouse space - like Chicago.

    Michael Phillips - The Chicago Tribune

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Best European Film (Miglior Film dell'Unione Europea)

    David di Donatello Awards (2010)

     
  • Best Film

    European Film Awards (2010)

     
  • Best Editing (Bester Schnitt)

    German Film Awards (2010)

     
  • Best Cinematography (Beste Bildgestaltung)

    German Film Critics Association Awards (2010)

     
  • Top Five Foreign Films

    National Board of Review (2010)