From its beginning to its end, “Soul Kitchen” is filled with a passionate energy.
The overall boisterous mood comes mostly from Zinos Kazantsakis, played by Adam Bousdoukos, who also cowrote the screenplay based on his experience in the restaurant business.
Zinos is the owner of Soul Kitchen, a shabby yet charming restaurant sitting on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany. On its menu are frozen foods that Zinos hashes up together in his run-down kitchen. Then he serves these “delicacies” on mismatched plates.
The restaurant seems to be a reflection of him. Zinos enjoys working at the bare minimum and also has a sort of pride in his below-average work. Others seem to enjoy his work, too, because Soul Kitchen has a good number of regulars.
As Zinos keeps his life and restaurant barely afloat, a couple of obstacles come his way. The biggest is his girlfriend Nadine’s (Pheline Roggan) move to Shanghai for a journalism position. Zinos desperately wants to go with her. He shows this quite emotionally, but he can’t seem to let go of his restaurant. Thus begins Zinos’ quest to figure out a way to detach himself from his restaurant and follow her to Shanghai.
Before he can even formulate a clear plan for leaving, Zinos’ life becomes bombarded with crazy characters, one after another, each bringing along more baggage. Some characters are new, and some, such as his convict brother, Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu) are from the past.
With the arrival of these people in his life, problems begin to arise. His life becomes more hectic as he breaks his back and loses both his restaurant and his girlfriend, all while he’s still trying to solve his original problem.
Chaos piles on top of more chaos, creating scenes that result in laughter, such as when Zinos practices yoga for his hurt back in the middle of a nightclub, as well as when he fights with his old, cranky tenant who never pays.
There are also some situations that seem a bit over-the-top, such as the aphrodisiac-induced orgy that happens one night at the restaurant, which results in a few chuckles but far more confusion. These scenes can be deemed acceptable, however, because of the already bizarre nature of the film.
Because of the vivacity of the film, the few mellow scenes that occur feel a bit out of place, and it is unclear whether they are supposed to be comedic or sentimental.
There are also moments of confusion, as the real message of the film is never really established. The initial focus of the story seems to be about the new chef, Shayn (Birol Unel), and his new appointment at Soul Kitchen, but the story soon splits into many different directions.
Rather than a linear story, the film is more of an amusing roller coaster ride through a few weeks of Zinos’ life and the people around him.
It is the charm of the characters and their collective ability to attract problems, however, that make the story special. “Soul Kitchen” is enjoyable because of the strength of each character, which allows the film to flaunt a great vibrancy.