A Greek immigrant in Hamburg runs a small, mediocre restaurant in the warehouse district. Through a series of events too complicated to explain, a mad Spanish chef fetches up in his kitchen, making the restaurant a culinary destination. The owner, though, has his own problems, including a runaway girlfriend, an irresponsible brother, and an old school chum with a shady real estate deal. Hilarity ensues.
This film sends up everything — food movies, bad girl with a heart of gold moview, “one last score” crime movies — but its at its best in its depiction of social relationsips. The director, Fatih Akin, a German of Turkish descent, is quite perceptive about the position of immigrants in Germany, a country which does not accept foreigners easily. Perhaps because of that, all the non-hyphenated Germans have sticks inserted a little too far up their rears, to the amusement of virtually everyone else. It’s a quirky little film — the term “romantic comedy” doesn’t really do it justice — but I think you guys would enjoy it. On DVD and Netflix.
