The best Cem Akin’s movies

SOUL KITCHEN centers on a likable but hopelessly disorganized restauranteur, Zinos, whose cafe is second home to a motley crew of lovable eccentrics. When his girlfriend Nadine up and moves to Shanghai, a love-sick Zinos decides to fly after her, leaving his restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias. Both decisions turn out disastrous: Illias gambles away the restaurant to a shady real estate agent, and Zinos finds Nadine with a new lover. If the brothers can stop arguing and get it together, the Soul Kitchen might still have one last chance at staying in business. The mayhem that follows is a hilariously entertaining story of self-realization, set to an irresistibly soulful soundtrack.

With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.

Can Daniel follow the sun from Hamburg to the Bosporus by Friday to meet his love?

In Hamburg, Ibrahim "Ibo" Secmez, of Turkish descent, wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie. For now, he makes commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant. Titzie, an aspiring actress and Ibo's German girlfriend, finds she's pregnant. Ibo is uncertain about fatherhood - compounded by his father's disowning him for getting a German girl pregnant - so Titzie sends him packing. He makes attempts at getting it right, but as the birth approaches, he's still not ready. In the background are three thugs in search of good tripe soup and a Capulet-Montegue feud between the kebab joint and a Greek taverna across the street. Can Ibo be the glove upon that hand?

Three friends get caught in a life of major crime.