Soul Kitchen

Director: Fatih Akin

17 July 2023

See

Her: Soul kitchen, a German comedy directed by Fatih Akin. It tells a story of a Greek chef Zinos who owns a local restaurant in Hamburg called Soul Kitchen. The restaurant is doing well enough until one day it all goes downhill. It could’ve been very sad if it wasn’t so funny and feel good.

Him: Zinos(Adam Bousdoukos) a chef of Greek heritage in Hamburg runs a rag-tag restaurant and is holding it together along with his petty gangster brother Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu). Zino’s girlfriend (Philine Roggan) moves to China for work and he hires an ambitious chef Shayn Weiss (Birol Unel). 

Think 

Her: Soul kitchen is well-shot, well-played and has a great soundtrack. It captures the hot pot of cultures that populate Hamburg really well and doesn’t shy away from making fun of them all. Born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, Fatih Akin knows the subject to its core and I think that this film is his ode to the city where lived most of his life.

Him: Some chance encounters are for the best, the sea captain tenant, the artist waitress, the physical therapist, the band that practice there gives the place an energy that stuff is happening. Zinos runs into a school friend, Thomas Neumann (Wotan Wilke Mohring) who sees it too and wants to buy the real estate.

Feel

Her:  It could’ve ended badly so many times but it didn’t. After all, the more lemons life gives you, the more lemonade you’ll get in the end, just keep squeezing.

Him: It was somewhat silly but an abundance of fun seeing Zinos bail out buckets full of water to keep his place afloat. As chef Shayn says, ‘The traveler has not reached their final destination.’