Soul Kitchen: Review

Yah man. "Soul Kitchen" Yah man "Soul Kitchen." When Birol Unel say's these words to Zinos in his kitchen it is priceless. Birol Unel made a Turkish sprint to stardom in Fatih Akin's "Head-On" where he jumped in to the same arena as the legendary fiend Mr. Klaus Kinski, but from "Head -On" he became one of my personal favorite actors ever. He is a wild bull of an artist and the neck muscles lunge out and his spit flying everywhere is always a personal favorite.

Well in Fatih Akin's newest motion picture Birol Unel portrays a Chef named Shane West. As Shane he is a background character, but becomes one of my favorite elements of the film "Soul Kitchen". Introduced in a Shi Shi Hamburg restaraunt that overlooks the Danube and has a round cedar bar. He is a Chef expert. When an angry German customer complains that his gespacho soup is cold. Birol as the Chef is asked by the waiter to heat up the soup. To which Birol comes out behind the background and explains to the angry German man that gespacho is a traditional Spanish soup and it is supposed to be served cold. This angers the customer and causes Birol to put his knife in the middle of the table and say to the customer in a priceless scream that he "will piss in his soup to warm it up." He is fired instantly and soon meets Zinos outside having a smoke. So "Soul Kitchen" begins. A restaurant owner and a fired Chef hit it off.

Fatih Akin is one of the most exciting directors to come to cinema in decades. "Head-On" is a masterpiece and "Edge of Heaven" is amazing. Similar to Lars Von Trier's "The Boss of it All" the film "Soul Kitchen" requires a certain kind of viewer. I found it hilarious, but it takes an appreciation of a certain combination of slapstick, deranged, humor. Akin might have had to shoot himself in the head after the last two features so "Soul Kitchen" seems fresh. Going that deep and intense can be detrimental to almost any artist. Fatih Akin is a Turkish-German filmaker who deals with the topic of race in fascinating ways. Zinos is a Greek restaurant owner operating in German, Hamburg. When Zinos is dancing with his brother it is my favorite crane shot in the whole film. It parallells Birol dancing onstage covered in blood in "Head On". The thing that is best about "Soul Kitchen" is that being a comedy it seemed that anything was truly possible in the movie. The apartment burns down, they steal the deed, Zinos has a slipped disc in his bakc the whole film. After the second viewing a positive thing happened in watching the spraying painted graffitti artist style credits it struck me that Mr. Akin is a virtuoso and has complete artistic control of everything he creates.