La Cocina

There have been several great films about restaurants - such as Big Night, Boiling Point and Pat-au-Feu that we showed last year. La Cocina is a film set in a restaurant, with the key difference that this is in the kitchens, where the real action takes place. Based on an Arnold Wesker play (The Kitchen), La Cocina is a masterpiece of controlled chaos as the camera follows the varied cast slaving away to produce vast amounts of food for a large and successful tourist restaurant, where nearly all the workers are immigrants. The key players are Pedro (Raul Briones Carmona) and Julia (Rooney Mara) whose relationship is complicated by an unexpected pregnancy. Alongside them are an assortment of characters with a range of background stories, all of them overwhelmed by the demands placed on them by the world they live in. Nominated for the Golden Bear at Berlin this year, the film has attracted huge critical acclaim: “… this is a compelling vision of the immigrant experience” Hollywood Reporter

SYNOPSIS:
The film is based on the 1957 stage play The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, it follows the life in the kitchen of a NYC restaurant where cultures from all over the world blend during the lunchtime rush.

Details
Run time: 2h 19 mins
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Writer: Alonso Ruizpalacios, Arnold Wesker
Cast: Raúl Briones, Rooney Mara, Anna Díaz

Country: Mexico, USA
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Spanish