LA COCINA Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Stars: Raul Briones, Rooney Mara, Anna Diaz, Lee Sellars, James Waterston, Oded Fehr, Motell Foster, Laura Gomez, Eduardo Olmos.
Hell’s Kitchen? A comedy/drama La Cocina (Spanish for the kitchen) takes us behind the scenes of the combustible kitchen of The Grill, a swanky restaurant in Times Square in New York. It captures the pressure cooker atmosphere and dehumanising sweatshop-like environment of the setting and contains more conflicts and personality clashes than an entire box set of My Kitchen Rules.
The film also explores the immigrant experience in America, the exploitation of those immigrants and low paid workers who come to the country hoping for a better life and more opportunities, the desperation of those who want to gain a green card and remain in the US. The restaurant’s owner Rashid (Oded Fehr) promises to help his employees get a green card, a promise he regularly reneges on.
The Grill kitchen is run under with a tight fist by the tyrannical head chef (Lee Sellars, from Tar, etc), who controls a motley and volatile mix of cooks and waiters, many who are illegal immigrants. Pedro (Raul Briones, from the miniseries Iron Reign, etc) is one of the cooks who works at the Grill. Hotheaded and passionate he is also something of a trouble magnet. Pedro fights with Mark (James Waterston, son of Law & Order star Sam Waterston), another cook. Chef gives Pedro his final warning, threatening to fire him is he steps out of line again and causes any more trouble.
Pedro is in love with Julia (Rooney Mara, from the American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, etc), a waitress at the restaurant and he fantasises about running away with her to start a new life back in Mexico. Julia is pregnant and is trying to raise the money so she can have an abortion. When the restaurant’s bookkeeper reports that some money has gone missing suspicion falls on Pedro and Julia.
A new temporary hire at the restaurant is Estela (Ann Diaz), a young Mexican woman newly arrived in New York. She doesn’t speak English. Her mother had told her to look up Pedro as he would be able to help her find employment.
La Cocina has been written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie, etc), who maintains a fast, chaotic pace throughout. This is Ruizpalacios’ fourth feature film. It is based on Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play The Kitchen, which was filmed in 1961. Ruizpalacios had read the play while he was working as a waiter and dishwasher in a London restaurant while studying and it left an impression on him. In shaping the script, he also drew upon his own experiences, and the film is shaped by palpable anger and some raw emotions. The film also expands on the themes he explored in his 2008 short film Cafe Paraiso and is often claustrophobic. However, there is no real narrative development as the film is more of a character study and an examination of the many interpersonal relationships within the kitchen itself.
The film has been shot in monochrome by cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramirez, and this gives the material a stark quality. His camera constantly prowls through the kitchen, giving the material a sense of immediacy. He also employs a range of aspect ratios, and a couple of scenes are infused with bursts of colour.
The ensemble cast all deliver here. Briones delivers a volatile and compelling performance and gives the film its energy. Mara gives a more thoughtful performance. Sellars is more bombastic and in your face.
This is one restaurant I didn’t particularly enjoy checking out. Ultimately though La Cocina failed to fully engage me and I didn’t connect with many of the characters. And I found that the film’s 140-minute running time was a little too exhausting and generous, especially given the nature of the dramas unfolding. There have been plenty of other more engaging and entertaining dramas or comedies set within kitchens that foodies would do well to check out instead of La Cocina.
★★☆
