Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

theseventhstooge It is has been said that Fatih Akin is known for dark, serious movies and that Soul Kitchen is anomaly. That simply isn't true, Akin has made comedies and all of his movies, even though rather dark, have comedic overtures.But be that as it may, this movie has all of Akin's main collaborators including his brother Cem, Moritz Bleibtreu, Adam Bousdoukos, and Birol Unel. The special features, "Making of" explain that Soul Kitchen was in the works for several years and then Gegen die Wand was released. Gegen die Wand went on to be a major award winning film for Akin and he felt the pressure of having to repeat his success. Soul Kitchen is a more personal story, Adam Bousdoukos owned a Greek (he's Greek-German) restaurant and Fatih worked with him in working on the script. So many of the things that happen in the film are based on Fatih or Adam's experiences. This movie has a serious yet juvenile tone, something that his earlier comedy, "Im Juli" doesn't necessarily have. Soul Kitchen comes the closest to what we Americans would identify with in a comedy. Akin is known for giving very little direction to his actors and actresses, so what you see in Soul Kitchen is often a mix of acting and real life. And since many of the same people appear in multiple Akin films, most of them are familiar with one another and with Akin. The acting in this movie is on par. Adam Bousdoukos is a strong comedic lead that helps bring life to this movie. Moritz Bleibtreu is great as Adam's brother; his range is amazing from Das Experiment, Lola Rennt, Im Juli, and Soul Kitchen to name a few. Then you have Birol Unel, who is magic as the eccentric master chef who brings new life to Soul Kitchen.

Python Hyena Soul Kitchen (2009): Dir: Faith Akin / Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol Unel, Pheline Roggan, Anna Bederke: Here is a unique and very funny look into amateur fast food that has only its owner's desire to survive as its only true soul. Adam Bousdoukos is hilarious as a restaurant owner taking short cuts with the meals of the regulars. His girlfriend travels to Japan and remains contact through Skype. His brother just got leave from prison. The I.R.S are trying to close the place down. His cook abuses the customers. And to top it off, he throws his back out. Moritz Bleibtreu plays his brother who does community service at the restaurant and brings whole new issues to it particularly when he is assigned manager. Birol Unel plays a cook who is great at his job but terrible with customers. He makes demands and eventually quits. Pheline Roggan plays Bousdoukos's girlfriend whom he suspects is cheating. He makes plans to travel to Japan to see her until he encounters her at the airport with an Asian boyfriend. She tries to maintain a friendship but this mostly just brings more stress to his life. This is a unique comedy with a lot of ideas despite a screenplay that wasn't perfect. The ending seems a tad corrupt in their dealings with the I.R.S but director Faith Akin has fun with the location and sustains great laughs within the realms of fast food and living on the cheap. Score: 8 / 10

balonny9 It's been very nice watching something less Hollywood style, and yet rooted in soul music, but not only that - the whole plot is very interesting to follow in particular when it comes to relations among the characters. Really enjoyed this movie even if it comes in German language. In in this time of recession and global crisis the movies as well develops the plot about private property which becomes very important and therefore worth protecting. At certain point I was not sure if the owner of Soul Kitchen will be able to get it back as his situation was more than difficult, but there was such a twist at the end and it all ended just fine (glad for that)..Last but not least, I would most definitely recommend this movie to everyone interested in music and arts in general.

Guy Lanoue This is an example of an emerging genre in film, in which the characters act as if they are completely uprooted from any normal or traditional behavioural or psychological frameworks (lots of shouting and hysterical goings on, apparently unmotivated behaviour, casual and meaningless sex and violence, and the like), yet there is, strangely enough, a structure and a harmony that emerges at the end. It's almost like a comic book whose heroes have steroid pumped muscles, chiselled faces, speak in and represent clichés of good and evil, yet it makes sense. There is no moralising here in this tale of an uneducated Greek restaurant (more of a greasy spoon, at the beginning) owner in Hamburg, one of the toughest and grittiest of German cities, which is used quite effectively as a backdrop that highlights the somewhat confused and direction-less behaviour of the protagonists. The contrasts are numerous and almost clichéd: his brother is an unsuccessful thief, he is improbably in love with an aristocratic journalist who leaves him to his fate while she goes on assignment in China, he has a non rent paying old Greek fisherman tenant in his wharf side restaurant, a would be artist waitress, a world class blues-soul band who uses his restaurant in which to practice yet can't find a gig. You get the idea. In the middle of this apparent chaos, a few human feelings slowly emerge, between the brothers, between the waitress and the thief, between the Greek and his Turkish masseuse, even, after they break up, between the Greek and his ex, who does the decent thing and lends a large sum to the Greek so he can restart his life. Everything works out. So what is the message? I suppose that genuine and positive emotions triumph over social divisions and over chaos, whether caused by race or class. What is important is the dexterity with which this simple theme is communicated, without pathos or angst: the world is just what it is - ridiculous, venal and stupid, and sometimes going with the flow and acting out is what saves us. The script is almost ridiculous, but works well in the hands of director Faith Akin (himself a Turk living in Germany, while the Greek character is in fact a real Greek (and the scriptwriter) who also lives in Germany). Akin allows the humour to emerge naturally, without forcing it by the use of slapstick or stereotypes. It starts slow (I think this may be deliberate), and might even irritate at first as the chaos gets installed as the backdrop for the human story. It drags a bit, so one wonders what the hell is going on and when will the "real" action start. But the many unconnected threads are slowly brought together in a charming ending. Definitely worth the rental.