a touch of spice

This is the name of a lovely greek-turkish movie i run across 3 nights before as i was carelessly zapping on tv.
Bthw i have to say that as far as i have noticed , telenorba,ufo tv,koha tv are the best movie showing tv`s in Albania, at least in my opinion.I like their different choices.I watched the movie at Telenorba .
Regarding the movie, if i was to describe it in 2 words i`d say : heartwarming & colorful.
The movie is the story of a greek family living in Istanbul , forced to leave the city during the Cypriot conflict.
The most powerful bond on the movie is the spiritual bond between Fanis and his grandpa , a culinary philosopher and mentor.
He learns a lot from his grandpa`s special way of seeing the world and of course from his culinary skills and miracles.He learns to perceive things in a different way , spicing his vision and mastering his soul using the power of colors,odors of cuisine spices.
He becomes a fantastic cook , a talent which of course does astonish many persons including here his first love and the love of his life , the beautiful Saime.
He persuades her to dance for him and in exchange for that he`d cook.
The moment Saime dances is such a perfect , beautiful prelude to their naive love relationship.
This relationship is never mentioned but everyone is aware of the fact.

When Fanis and his family are forced to leave to Athens, he is separated from the 2 most beloved persons : his grandpa and Saime.
It`s a hard time for all the family to leave their life in Istanbul and their memories (i so much sympathize with them here bthw, since i`m experiencing the same thing) , but the merry family unions and the joyful meals makethe reality more easy to be accepted and it prevents the movie itself to become a melodrama.
I`m not going to tell you the whole movie here , but i wanna mention what i liked best of it of course:)
The dialogues , the quotes on cuisine, habits,spices and dishes raises the optimistic spirit on the movie.

Some of the cool quotes of the movie on cuisine and spices were:

1.Spice is used to spice up your life as well.
2.Cinnamon is bitter and sweet.Just like a woman.
3.I also liked what Fanis tells about appetizers:They play the role of preparing the people for difficult situations.They are just like intermediary steps.

I found it really cool.I had never thought of appetizers this way before.

Well, what amazed me most of course was the amazing Istanbul visuality, so masterfully shown.
As a person that has been living there for almost 11 years , and now has left that lovely city , it was like a promenade of infinite longing.
To conclude : This movie may be well called a hymn of longing , love,compassion,passion and life as ambiance.
To me it was like a very cool combination of Tornatore, Jean Pierre Jeunet,Nabaki style.

I would highly recommend you this movie.
More info here : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378897/

imdb point : 7,5 from 10