Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin, 2009)

Fatih Akin, the Turkish-German behind hard-hitting explorations of identity and purpose such as Head-On and The Edge of Heaven, attempts a lighter tack with a simple story of a Greek-German restaurateur in Hamburg whose dreams of success founder on the rocks of his clientele's stodgy tastes, his ex-con brother's indiscretions and his own daft infatuation with a rich girl who sets him unreasonable demands. Then city officials, a gangster and ill health come in to mop up what's left. The film is hard pushed to stagger on with its feelgood tone intact after this unfeasible multiple assault. It just about manages on the strength of being so ebullient, as embodied by the merely incredulous reaction of Adam Bousdoukos's protagonist to each new misfortune where, in an Akin picture in fully existential mode, despair would be the natural response instead. Akin still can't do comedy, though, bless him.

5/10