Soul Kitchen: Fatih Akin’s lightly entertaining film follows a restaurateur in an industrial area of Hamburg, as he faces all kinds of headwinds: his girlfriend is moving abroad, his business is failing, his no-good brother is free-riding him, and his back is busted. The characters are generally one-noted, but the film is brisk and energetic enough to overcome that. Adam Bousdoukos plays the protagonist, a man torn between two obsessions (three, if you add soul music), with a good degree of charm and vulnerability. Moritz Bleibtreu, as his low-key criminal brother, is entertaining. The three relevant female characters, played by Pheline Roggan, Anna Bederke, and Dorka Gryllus, don’t require much of their performers, but all are charming. Director of photography Rainer Klausmann and editor Andrew Bird are instrumental in giving the film its energy, along with a very well-chosen music list (featuring, naturally, lots of soul).