released by Ifc Films
The films of Fatih Akin caught my attention early on, with his second feature to make it stateside, Head-On (2004). A bleak story of two Turks in Hamburg, the movie signaled the arrival of a new writer/director who was going to give more established German auteurs like Wim Wenders and Tom Tykwer a run for their money. But Fatih Akin was young, Turkish and Muslim—and Head-On explored the underbelly of Turkish life in both Germany and Turkey in a way that was impossible to forget.

Fast-forward to 2010 and Mr. Akin brings us back to Hamburg, his home town, where it all started. (Soul Kitchen was shot last year in Germany but is just being released in Los Angeles in September.) This time, after having made several features that were intricately-woven dramas, he seems to have wanted to explore a lighter side of city life—Soul Kitchen is classified as a comedy. It is about two Greek-German brothers, Zinos and Illias Kazantsakis, and the funky restaurant Zinos operates in the suburb of Wilhelmsburg. I say "classified" because despite the occasional comedic set-up, there is something almost wistful about Soul Kitchen. To be sure, Hamburg, no matter how lovingly filmed (and it is here) is still Hamburg—it's not exactly the Côte d'Azur. And the relationship between these two brothers is sadly dysfunctional, though their love is apparent. (Zinos is legit; Illias is a thief and gambler on partial parole.)

Soul Kitchen has its mirthful moments, for instance when a new chef declares hateful customers "culinary racists," or when Zinos is about to be treated by a redoubtable chiropractor they call "Kemal the bone cruncher." And there is no question that the film has an understated joie de vivre, even though Zinos throws his back out, loses his girlfriend, is threatened with the loss of his restaurant, and winds up in jail gloomily staring at his brother (I'm really not giving anything away here).

Moritz Bleibtreu and Adam Bousdoukos in “Soul Kitchen,’’ a film about two brothers and their hip restaurant.: (Ifc Films)The music, which often manages to be uplifting, is almost as much a character in this film as is the restaurant itself—a mix of classic R & B, Greek rembetiko, Hamburg hip hop and live rock played with head-banging zest.

The character of Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos), is based on a real-life restaurant owner, named Adam Boudoukos...who for a long time owned a place called Taverna in the Ottensen quarter of Hamburg (Bousdoukos co-wrote the script with Akin.). Says Akin, equating his fictional setting with its inspiration, "This was more than just a restaurant for us; it was a playground for adventure, a collecting tank, a place to celebrate, a home." The film's producer calls Soul Kitchen "an audacious, dirty Heimat film...about friendship, love, and life in a village-like community." And the picture does feel very cozy, because each character is fleshed out and has his or her quirks, like people in life (most of us). The two brothers, whatever their shortcomings, are easy to like.

Bousdoukos and Fatih Akin have been friends for a long time; in addition to running Taverna—a fixture of Hamburg nightlife for years—Bousdoukos turned to acting with Akin's encouragement, and appeared in two of his previous films, In July (2000) and Head-On. Akin is faithful to his actors, and cast his lead from In July, Moritz Bleibtreu, as Zinos' brother. Like Akin and Bousdoukos, Bleibtreu is a Hamburg native. Hence the film feels very much like a ballad to Hamburg, a love poem with grit and pathos.

Both Bousdoukos and Bleibtreu are excellent in this film, as are their supporting cast, notably Pheline Roggan as Nadine, Illias' love interest; Demir Gökgöl as Sokrates—a cranky seafaring neighbor who freeloads off Zinos' reluctant generosity; and Hungarian actress Dorka Gryllus as Anna.

After watching Soul Kitchen I find I want to go back and view again Akin's masterpiece, The Edge of Heaven (2007), to discover what traces there might be of his idiosyncratic sense of humor. I agree with San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle when he says of The Edge of Heaven, "The experience of seeing this film is cumulative, sober and profound." But could Akin have achieved such depth without the little flourishes of irony that seem to be in his nature?

Each of Fatih Akin's films, from the love story that is In July to the ill-fated marriage in Head-On, from the music documentary Crossing the Bridge: the Sound of Istanbul (2005) to The Edge of Heaven and now Soul Kitchen, is about a need to find oneself, to situate or accommodate identity within or between two cultures: the "cold" northern German culture and the "warm" southern Turkish or Greek culture.

Of course it is much more complicated; there is occasionally lightness of being among the Germans, and at times a dark melancholy that runs through Turkish identity. Crossing the Bridge addressed the question of Turkey being at once connected to Europe and West Asia, and now Soul Kitchen, while calling itself a comedy about home or homeland (Heimat), asks us to become a member of the Kazantsakis entourage, each of whom is working out his or her connection to Hamburg.

Jordan Elgrably is the editor of the Levantine Review.