Soul Kitchen

With Soul Kitchen, German director Fatih Akin stitched together what passes for screwball comedy nowadays. At least the combustible set of characters produce an ongoing ripple of humor. There is Zinos, the young Greek-German whose seedy restaurant becomes a sensation with the aid of a temperamental Spanish chef and the crowd drawn by a local rock band in search of a practice space. Then there’s Illia, Zinos’ ex-con brother who becomes his business partner; Zinos’ posh German girlfriend with whom he conducts a romance via Skype; and the real estate developer scumbag who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the property where Zinos’ restaurant sits. Soul Kitchen is a fable of success as disjointed as the postmodern Europe it mirrors. It’s out on DVD.