As central locations go, restaurants have proven themselves to be hotbeds of big screen drama in recent years with the success of films such as Boiling Point, The Menu, and The Taste of Things and writer and director Alonso Ruizpalacios has put his own artistic spin on this recipe for his New York-based piece, La Cocina.
Based on the 1957 stage play by Arnold Wesker, the plot follows a group of colleagues at tourist trap Times Square eatery The Grill during a hectic lunch service. After some cash goes missing from the register and a broken drinks machine causes a flood, tensions rise between cook Pedro (Raúl Briones), waiter Julia (Rooney Mara), new start Estela (Anna Diaz) and the rest of the staff.
Shot in a sharp black & white palette with a tight 4:3 aspect ratio, there’s a claustrophobic nature to the directors lens as the chaos closes in on our characters – it’s designed like The Bear’s hipster little cousin. This version of events changes some key players from having European heritage as they had in the original source material to Hispanic roots – this is a very timely choice from the Mexican filmmaker at the helm, skewering the ‘American Dream’ by adding a social commentary on capitalism and contemporary struggles as undocumented workers live in fear of deportation within harsh conditions of the merciless modern workplace.
There’s a skilled artistry in significant sequences with long tracking shots from cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez that shifts the focus between the script’s intersecting stories, illustrating the relentless, never-ending feel to the nervous energy in the environment. While the craft is aesthetic pleasing and technically impressive, the sheer number of subplots take its toll on the experience as a whole – sections exploring the complicated, lustful relationship between Julia and Pedro are the most rich and flavourful but the narrative filler around this is rather bland.
Since taking a step back from the spotlight somewhat, Rooney Mara’s screen appearances have sadly been few and far between. She is excellent in the role of Julia, elevating every scene of Ruizpalacios’ inventive adaptation she’s involved in. La Cocina earns its spot as a stylish side dish on the menu of films in this increasingly saturated subgenre, even if it does lack a little cinematic sustenance.
Cinema Perspective 