Dir/Wri Alonso Ruizpalacios | Cast: Raúl Briones Carmona, Rooney Mara, Anna Díaz, Motell Foster, Oded Fehr, Laura Gómez, James Waterston, Lee R. Sellars, Eduardo Olmos | 139′
Behind every successful business there’s a team of workers toiling away to keep it all running smoothly: particularly in the restaurant trade where the adrenalin pumps and occasionally goes over the boil. Remember Philip Barantini’s 2021 kitchen drama Boiling Point,
Powered forward by an intense head of emotional steam from its able cast and a snazzy soundtrack – not to mention sinuous camerawork – La Cocina pictures life in the fast lane of a popular New York diner The Grill where staff work tirelessly to deliver tip-top deli-style fare.
Inspired by the 1957 play The Kitchen by English dramatist Arnold Wesker, this cinematic version gets a Mexican twist from writer director Alonso Ruizpalacios whose tragi-comic treatment shows how a hot tempered compatriot goes into overdrive when his private life catches fire.
Even in immaculate black and white La Cocina whets our appetite for a luscious club sandwich oozing with mayo and onions, seductively put together by Mexican chef Pedro (Briones). The pay-off, apart from doing what he loves with his supportive team, and being paid for it, is the promise of a US visa enabled by his decent boss Rashid (Oded Fehr) who runs and finances The Grill.
But rather than the ‘American Dream’ all Pedro really yearns for is to go back to Mexico with the woman of his dreams, a waitress called Julia (a superb Rooney Mara in a brief appearance). Ruizpalacios almost pulls it all off – but not quite. The pithy script certainly conjures up the chaotic nature of the kitchen, the hierarchy and the pecking order, the desperation of illegal workers who can’t speak a word of English but can whip up a voluptuous milkshake or balance a tray. But Julia has a secret up her starched sleeve.
The mood is frantic, accidents abound; the soda dispenser backfires; cash goes missing from the till, all adding grist to the downstairs trauma, not to mention the flimsy love interest at the film’s core. Unlike the fresh and tasty fare in its diner, La Cocina manages to be both overwrought and rather lightweight. Stylish and visually alluring it may be but over two hours is too long for a slender love story, despite the piquant addition of socially relevant side-orders to spice up the storyline. @MeredithTaylor
IN UK CINEMAS FROM 28 MARCH 2025