Fatih Akin - Soul Kitchen (2009)

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by Mark Deming

A low-budget restaurateur finds himself in a big vat of trouble in this comedy from director Fatih Akin. Zinos Kazantzakis (Adam Bousdoukos) run 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 have 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 her old customers while new ones haven't taken their place. Soul Kitchen received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.