LA COCINA

Mexico/US, 2024, 139 minutes, black-and-white/Colour.

Raoul Briones, Rooney Mara, James Waterston, Anna Diaz, Oded Fehr, Lee Sellars.

Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios.

A word which comes to mind as we watch this highly-powered drama, is “exhausting”.

The first part of the film, a long film of 2 hours 20 minutes, takes place in a large kitchen of a New York diner, large staff, chef, cooks, waitresses, continual movement, the orders coming in thick and fast, shouting, speed, and tensions, more shouting, some altercations – exhausting for the staff as they go about their business, but, as said, exhausting for us to watch them, the pressures and their exhaustion.

This is a Mexican production from the celebrated Mexican director, Alonso Ruizpalacios. There is a large Hispanic cast, with some Americans. And, surprising to discover, the screenplay is based on a British play of 1957, a play by Arnold Wesker, The Kitchen , part of the movement in Britain in the late 1950s, a move away from the drawing room to a lot of “kitchen-sink” realism.

The film was shot in black and white although, there are some moments of colour, often quite striking, small, sometimes brief, into the black and white. And, especially initially with a young woman arriving from Mexico by ship and trying to find her way around New York to get a job, some blurred black-and-white photography. And, with the language, mixes of Spanish and English.

Which means that the images of the kitchen are images of the melting pot, especially Hispanic/English, of New York City and communities around the US. And, not only the mix, but the role of the American bosses, the hold over their staffs, issues of visas and permits, illegal immigrants, trapped at the whim of the bosses, full of hopes and dreams (especially dramatised in a most welcome quiet part of the middle of the film, some of the staff taking a break in the alley speaking of their dreams and hopes, some realistic, some fantasies).

Tensions rise throughout the film with a number of themes. The accountant finds money missing and one of the managers assumes that it is the key character of the film, the cook, Pedro (Raoul Briones) who has taken the money for his girlfriend, Julia (Rooney Mara) for an abortion. But Pedro does not want the abortion. Julia does and there are consequences. And there is the anger of the chef against Pedro, counting him down for eventual firing. And there is the main boss, with the power, who comes to supervise and check.

And, it all boils over, the pressure on Pedro, Julia’s son arriving, an altercation with one of the waitresses, objectively reasonable but too much for Pedro, frantic, then berserk, chaos in the kitchen, spilling over into the restaurant itself. The desperation of the Hispanics and others of racial and ethnic backgrounds, overwhelming anger and destruction. And, what of the future, the uncertainties of the future?

(And La Cocina is challenging watch at the time of the release, with the executive orders of Donald Trump and the intentions of mass deportations for illegal Hispanics.)

1. The reality of Hispanic refugees, legal and illegal, in the United States? Political repercussions on the 2020s, the Trump administration?
2. The screenplay based on Arnold Wesker’s 1957 British play? The issues then? The “kitchen sink” dramas? Relevant in the 2020s?
3. The black-and-white photography, the realism, the artifice of blurred screens? The colour insertions? The musical score?
4. The tone of the opening, Estella, travelling to the US, entry, New York, lost, unable to speak English, searching for Pedro, to get a job? Her arriving, Coming for the interview, the woman waiting, the manager, the interview, accepted, the actual applicant late and not being hired? getting the job?
5. The first part of the film, the introduction to the kitchen, the chef, the cooks, the manager, finance? The large kitchen, the various cubicles and areas for the cooks, the specialties? The information about the menu, the style of cooking, the speed, the waitresses? Not seeing the clientele until later?
6. The pressure of work in the kitchen, exhausting for those working, exhausting for the audience watching? The volume of sound, the talking, the different languages? The pressures, timing, the orders, the machine with the orders coming through? The kitchen as a microcosm of New York City, the Americans in charge, the Hispanics working, treatment, attitudes?
7. The issue of the missing money, the accountant and his concern, Lewis and his attitudes, suspicions of Pedro, his relationship with Julia, his personality, the issue of the abortion, the presumptions about guilt? The continued concern of the accountant, eventually finding the money, Lewis and his accusing Pedro, the truth? The focus on Pedro, his background, working for three years, the relationship with Julia, her pregnancy, the behaviour during the day, kissing, the sexual encounter, yet the harsh reactions, Julia and her concern? Pedro wanting the child? Julia, going to the abortionist, the experience, the return, serving, the blood on her leg? The arrival of her son? The impact on Pedro?
8. The variety of personalities, Mark, white, authority, brutality, fights, reconciliations? Influence on the other workers? Their personalities, conversations, memories, joking, serious?
9. The flooding of the floor, everybody having to manage? The main chef, 25 years working, attack on Pedro, the counts against him? The arrival of the owner, his manner, talking, meeting people, tasting and testing?
10. The waitresses, the busy work, seeing the customers, complaining cost customers, friendly customers? The continued work, refilling the trays? Pedro and the clash with the waitress, arguments, her leaning over, his physical response?
11. The break, the quiet, in the lane, the characters, smoking, talking, their dreams, symbolic, the long story about migration, no conclusion, provoking emotion and thought?
12. The buildup to the mayhem, the pressures on those in the kitchen, authority, jokes, rivalries, angers, Julia and Pedro’s discovery, her son arriving, her leaving? The waitress, intervening, the violent reaction, his losing his temper, the eruption, the violence and destruction of the kitchen, pouring the rubbish over himself, going into the restaurant, causing mayhem and destruction? Back in the kitchen, on the floor, the chef and his response, the owner coming, the quiet menace, his observing the destruction, the confrontation with Pedro? His future?
13. The impact of this film for a Hispanic audience, Latin Americans in New York City, legal and illegal, continued threats, owners owning them, no visas? The impact for the broad American audience and understanding the issues? For audiences outside the US?