Adam Bousdoukos

Moritz Bleibtreu

Pheline Roggan

Anna Bederke

Birol Ünel

Dorka Gryllus

Wotan Wilke Möhring

Lucas Gregorowicz

Demir Gökgöl

Cem Akin

Marc Hosemann

Catrin Striebeck

Uğur Yücel

Udo Kier

Monica Bleibtreu

Bernd Gajkowski

Herma Koehn

Julia Wachsmann

Markus Imboden

Jan Fedder

Maria Ketikidou

Hendrik von Bültzingslöwen

Gustav Peter Wöhler

Zarah Jane McKenzie

Peter Lohmeyer

Philipp Baltus

Peter Jordan

Till Huster

Francesco Fiannaca

Simon Görts

Lars Rudolph

Malte Thorsten

Gudrun Egner

Fatih Akin

Rainer Klausmann

Andrew Bird

Klaus Maeck

Pia Hoffmann

Ann-Kristin Homann

Drama

Comedy

Soul Kitchen

Corazón International

Pyramide Productions

Dorje Film

France

Germany

Italy

CinemaSerf

“Zinos” (Adam Bousdoukos) runs his Greek equivalent of a greasy spoon in Hamburg, doing OK until his girlfriend “Nadine” (Pheline Roggen) takes a job in China which brings things in his life into a sharper focus. First things first, he can’t cook. Add to that he has an herniated disc in his back and needs surgery that he can’t really afford; his wayward brother “Illias” (Moritz Bleibtreu) is in and out (on a daily basis) of prison; the tax man is after him and there is a local businessman (Udo Kier) who wants the site for himself. Bluntly, “Zinos” is at his wits end so he advertises for a cook. Instead, he gets interest from “Weiss” (Birol Ünel) who is rather more of a chef and determines to up the standard of the menu. That doesn’t go down so well with the punters, but it does help him reach out to new, better-heeled, ones and soon the business is proving to be quite a success. Thing is, though, he is pining for his gal and so rather foolishly gives a power of attorney to his brother and decides to head to Shanghai. Needless to say, “Illias” proves to be anything but a safe pair of hands and so now there’s a real risk that our hapless restauranteur could end up with little more than the clothes he stands up in. Aside from a really engaging effort from Bousdoukos, this benefits from a surprising lack of in-your-face predictability. Of course, we know that his successful plain sailing can’t go on for long - there’d be no plot, but the quirky fashion in which his problems are crafted and then played out does raise a smile quite often. Partly because it is funny, but also because some of the scenarios are relatable too. Ünel is also on good form as the typically curmudgeonly kitchen perfectionist, Bleibtreu presents us with a sibling that any one of us would have happily disowned at birth and Kier only has to look at the camera to imbue his character with a degree of tea-time menace. It’s a quickly paced comedy that builds well around a couple of more substantial characterisations, some bumpy romance and just an hint of living life to the full (or fool) and it makes for an enjoyable ninety minutes.

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Soul Kitchen Trailer (English subtitles)

Soul Kitchen

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