Soul Kitchen [MA] - German

When Zinos’ girlfriend moves to Shanghai, he has to tie up some loose ends before joining her, namely his dinner-cum-restaurant, Soul Kitchen. When the authorities deem it as a health hazard, Zinos must work extra hard to get it up to scratch. But disaster is lurking around ever corner and before you can say “bon appétit” Zinos’ restaurant and his life have almost entirely gone down the gurgler. Can Zinos’ turn things around before his beloved restaurant becomes a pile of rubble? 

Some family friends had told me that this was a really good movie so, naturally, I grabbed myself a copy. There is something wonderfully romantic and inspiring about foodie movies: Chocolat, Julie & Julia, Babette’s Feast etc. What was absolutely brilliant about this movie was that it mixed gourmet food and funk and soul music together, and the combination of the two was a marvellous recipe for great entertainment. 

When Zinos’ girlfriend moves to Shanghai, he has to tie up some loose ends before he can join her, namely his dinner-cum-restaurant Soul Kitchen. When the authorities deem it as a health hazard, Zinos has to work extra hard to get it up to scratch. But disaster is lurking around every corner and before you can say “bon appétit” Zinos’ restaurant and his life have almost entirely gone down the gurgler. With a ruthless real estate agent eager to get his hands on the property, can Zinos’ turn things around before his beloved restaurant becomes a meaningless junk heap? 

This was a wonderful film that was a healthy balance between drama and comedy. Much of the comedy comes from the leading man’s disenfranchisement, which really is horrible when you think about it. I think I’ve mentioned in a previous review that there is a word for that sort of humour: schadenfreude. That is what this film’s central comedy is based on, the audience’s delight in the fact that all these terrible things are not happening to them. It’s almost sick in a way, but this is just the way humans are hardwired and it’s clever to see filmmakers taking advantage of this natural human characteristic. 

The thing that stood out most, for me, in this film was the combination of gourmet food and music. It was really clever to see the effects of both of these elements on the customers and the characters and the mixture of the two just made for a really enticing film. 

Starring Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibreu, Birol Unel, Anna Bederke, Pheline Roggan, and Wotan Wike Mohring, Soul Kitchen was deliciously dark comedy filled with memorable and eccentric characters, great music, glorious food, and plenty of disasters. An absolute treat of a film.