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If you are rather disappointed with quality of the movies you
have recently seen, you should definitely turn to Fatih Akin. As my good
friend once said, even if the contemporary cinema doesn’t have much to
offer, we must always keep the faith in Akin since, so far, his movies are
pretty amazing.
This time Akin has decided to leave his usual pattern, which is, generally
speaking, social issues and personal tragedies, and has made a pure comedy.
That’s right, Soul Kitchen
doesn’t pretend to talk about social or ethnical problems, neither it is
eager to analyze the condition of the world we live in. Instead, it gives us
great entertainment, a dose of intelligent humor and a simple but warm, and
not at all silly, story.
As the director pointed out, making a comedy was the hardest task so far in
his career and having seen some of the new released comedies we can easily
say why. A good comedy is the one that doesn’t expatiate with gross or
pathetic situations, completely stupid and predictable dialogues and
offensive, chauvinistic jokes. Making a good comedy is a really tough job
indeed and most of the screenwriters or directors fail to do it. But not
Akin. Even though he’s not familiar with the comedy field, Soul Kitchen
turned out to be unexpected hit of the 66th Venice Film Festival. Unexpected
since usually these are dramas or politically committed movies that get the
biggest applause.
But what else could we expect from Akin, the director of such unforgettable
movies like Head-on (2004,
Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival) or The
edge of Heaven (2007, Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival). Well,
not a comedy, of course, but, still, an emotional, beautiful story about
life and how hard it can sometimes get, filled with sensitivity and true
passion for something. And this is what we find in
Soul Kitchen, though this
time it is served in a completely different way.
It’s a story of a young man (he’s Greek but, actually, his nationality isn’t
a crucial issue in the movie, though it’s a kind of link between this one
and previous of Akin’s) who struggles as hard as he can to keep everything
together and by everything I mean: a long-distance relationship, a
restaurant, which serves crappy food and which he owns, and the faith in his
brother. It’s already a lot to deal with, isn’t it? But that’s not all.
There’s a false friend who wants to take over his restaurant and the brother
takes to gambling again, an addiction that has put him into jail. And the
terrible back pain he’s been suffering from and he can’t get rid of! Of
course, visiting a specialist is impossible since if you don’t have an
insurance policy (which he doesn’t), you’re going to pay a lot for medical
service (which, of course, he can’t afford).
But however tragic it all may seem, it’s, in fact, hilarious. I believe it’s
a credit to the cast: Adam Bousdoukos, who’s also co-writer of the movie, is
just so likeable, funny (but not funny-looking) and sweet playing Zinos
Kazantsakis that it’s hard not to fall in love with him at once. So is his
brother, Moritz Bleibtreu, though at first you don’t expect him to be like
that. What you do expect is a black character, but remember that Akin’s
movie isn’t another predictable clone. The supporting actors fit great as
well, especially the waiter is amazing and, although she’s not a
professional actress, I couldn’t imagine anyone else in this role
And the music! I think it’s one of the main characters since without it Soul
Kitchen would have lost much of its charm and positive energy. It’s a mix of
rock, funk, ethnic and soul music, so it’s completely eclectic, just like
the characters: there’s a Greek, German, Turkish and even Japanese, but, as
we know, multiculturalism is one of the main features of Akin’s cinema. And
that’s just fabulous.
All in all, although comedies aren’t taken seriously enough and normally
can’t compete with other kinds of movies,
Soul Kitchen satisfied not
only the viewers, but also the critics who decided to award it with a
special prize, a Silver Lion. So, the conclusion is: during the times of the
world economical crisis, a good comedy’s power is doubled and a true,
sincere, loud laugh is what people really need and what always make them
feel much better.
12:09:2009
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di Marie Elisa SCHEIDT
