Concrete Playground

A German comedy about food? Given that the nation is not exactly renowned for its culinary prowess, or comedic cinema for that matter, I was certainly curious about Soul Kitchen, the latest offering out of Germany from filmmaker Faith Akin (The Edge of Heaven, Head On) and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Zinos, played by co-writer Adam Bousdoukos, is the hapless but utterly lovable owner of Soul Kitchen, a restaurant in a decrepit area of Hamburg that serves greasy, subpar fare that his regular customers happen to love. When his girlfriend, Nadine (Pheline Roggan), accepts a job in Shanghai, Zinos is faced with the dilemma of what to do with the restaurant if he decides to join her. Enter the recently unemployed, hotheaded chef Shayn (Birol Unel), a culinary purist who promises to bin the sloppy servings and whisk Zinos’s menu into a peak of sophistication. The mass exit of his regulars, outraged at the disappearance of the deep-fried stodge, begins a string of calamities for Zinos and his staff: Untimely visits from the tax and health departments, his dodgy brother Illias’s release from prison on parole and harassment by a slippery developer itching to snatch the property all build into a comedy of errors that threatens to send Zinos and the restaurant into the red.

Lightly spread with cheese, Soul Kitchen has a predictable narrative arc and at times indulges in tired comedic cliché, but it’s all forgivable — Akin and his cast are having way too much fun to begrudge them any of it. On a lighter undertaking than his previous projects, Akin manages to imbue Soul Kitchen with a kind of gritty European sensibility and genuine warmth often lacking in typical Hollywood offerings of its genre. Besides, the quirky characters are so endearing and skillfully portrayed by an accomplished ensemble of actors, one can’t help but become invested in their story.

To win one of five double passes to see Soul Kitchen, email your name and address to hello@concreteplayground.com.au