Fans of The Bear and Boiling Point might question the need for another look into a high-pressure kitchen, but Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios has found a different angle to explore with his new film, La Cocina (out today).
An updated version of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play, the film is unconcerned with the quest for gastronomic perfection, instead taking us to The Grill, a tourist trap restaurant on New York’s Times Square. Here, quantity and efficiency trumps artistry.
We’re introduced to the kitchen via new recruit Estela, a Mexican immigrant who becomes one of the melting pot of not-strictly-legally employed cooks on ‘the line’ – where an unpromisingly broad array of food is prepared. In scenes familiar to anyone who’s worked in foodservice, she’s soon made to feel part of a team whose members bond by insulting each other as creatively and egregiously as possible.
Tensions run deeper than banter, though. An investigation is underway into some missing cash from a till, the cherry cola dispenser is on the fritz, and volatile cook Pedro – wearing the scars of a recent fight with a colleague – discovers his liaison with waitress Julia has resulted in her pregnancy.
Beautiful black-and-white photography puts the focus on faces, not food. We see just two meals prepared with any care – one as an act of love, one of charity – before what promised to be just another shift spirals into wildly entertaining (if perhaps a touch too unrealistic) chaos.
La Cocina explores power and immigration interestingly and powerfully. It should also get visitors to NYC to think twice about where they go out for dinner.
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