Kaboul Kitchen: Canal Plus’s tasty new series!
Canal +’s fiction unit is offering its subscribers a series that appears to be a real UFO. The pitch: the story of Jackie, manager of Kabul Kitchen, a restaurant for expatriates in Kabul in the mid-2000s. Jacky is confronted with the arrival of his daughter and, above all, has to deal with a multitude of problems linked to the local context: war, religious tension, corruption, etc….
The series is inspired by a true story, that of Marc Victor, who lived in Kabul from 2002 to 2008 and is co-writer. The project is unprecedented, original, funny, caustic and, above all, non-referential.The character of Jackie is played by an excellent Gilbert Melki. He’s chatty, but also very sentimental. Disillusioned, cheap and grumpy… a true Frenchman, in short. At 50, Jacky is almost the oldest expat in Kabul. By turns confessor, father, judge and referee, he listens, helps and reassures, but never forgets to negotiate hard. With a grumpy temperament, he knows how to be sweet when the situation calls for it. Jacky is an impulsive moderate. He’s one of those people who try to explain to Westerners that they’re not at home here, that people here have very different values to us and that we need to respect each other. In fact, he spends his time grumbling about Afghans, their backward values and their “shitty country”.
Also in the cast: Simon Abkarian, who perfectly portrays General Amanullah, a scheming drug trafficker. Habib, the restaurant waiter, is hilarious, making offbeat remarks like “that sucks ass”.
The aesthetically pleasing exterior scenes were shot in Kabul. The interior scenes were shot in Morocco for security reasons.
The mix of comedy and drama is perfect. Christophe Julien’s music, too, gives the film a rock’n’roll feel.The script leaves the door open for a Season 2, which we can’t wait to see.
Comedy 12 episodes of 30 minutes
Created by Marc Victor, Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes
Directed by Allan Mauduit, Jean-Patrick Benes (episodes 1 to 6) and Frédéric Berthe (episodes 7 to 12)
Produced by Joëy Faré (Scarlett Production) and Marco Cherqui (Chic Films)
Starring Gilbert Melki, Stéphanie Pasterkamp, Benjamin Bellecour,
Alexis Michalik, Marc Citti, Simon Abkarian…
Every Monday at 8:50pm, from mid-February 2012, in prime time, 3 episodes per evening.
Julien Tissot
[email protected]
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
