La Cocina

The success of shows like ‘The Bear’ and ‘Boiling Point’ might be a message – and not just that audiences are really hungry all of a sudden. Grind culture and the unsustainable pressures placed on unappreciated employees to simply get by has led to an interest in chaotic workplaces – with fast-paced restaurants an obvious environment for filmmakers to explore what all this stress and madness means in the grand context of life itself. La Cocina is the latest feature in this mould, offering an original angle with a focus on the immigrant experience.

Situated in Times Square, ‘The Grill’ is a tourist trap restaurant staffed by immigrant cooks who work on a knife edge to keep up with fast-paced orders through long, tiring days. The promise of citizenship is dangled over them by owner Rashid (Oded Fehr). Pedro (Raul Briones) is a cook who has been made such a promise, and he sees it as his way to a dream life with waitress girlfriend Julia (Rooney Mara). But floods, new staff, pregnancy and stolen money mean that life, and the future of all the workers at The Grill is at the behest of the powers that be.

La Cocina’s 2-hour runtime means it is difficult to maintain either its intensity or its philosophical edge throughout – which are its strongest features when in full effect. The frantic, macho and deafening kitchen environment will feel familiar to Bear fans, and Alonso Ruizpalacios’ interpretation is still entertaining enough to grab viewers’ attentions and raise blood pressures. One can feel their fingers getting greasier and grimier as the staff hustle to keep up with the demands from the all-powerful patrons above, kept in line by Lee Sellars’ autocratic head chef. Dehumanisation is a big theme of the film – with each character feeling increasingly broken by an uncaring system of demand, demand, demand. The energetic direction helps this land perfectly.

Adapted from a 1957 stage play and modernised to reflect 2020s dynamics, the film explores race relations in the workplace and how low-income immigrants are exploited ruthlessly for labour. The largely Hispanic workforce is far from a monolith – with the Mexicans, Dominicans, Colombian and more in the kitchen all distinguishing themselves from the others. Bubbling tensions under the surface, such as doubts around Pedro’s relationship with Julia, anger at Rashid and the staff's fraught co-existence with Max (Spenser Granese) explode in a memorable and destructive conclusion that is worthy of the simmering stress levels built throughout the story.

Raul Briones thrives as ill-tempered Pedro, a chauvinistic and reactive man but one who dreams big and believes in a better world most around him think is a fantasy. His relationship with pensive Julia feels doomed to failure due to their clashing personalities, though the meaningful chemistry the pair share when alone creates enough hope to validate Pedro’s dreaming. Rooney Mara feels a little underused in the role, and Julia’s traumatic decisions through the film feel underexplored. Other characters like Estela (Anna Diaz) are set up to play a larger role than they end up doing – enjoying meaningful and wonderfully crafted dialogue but ultimately lacking a larger impact on the story.

La Cocina is more than just a side dish to wildly successful contemporaries serving up a similar course. It makes salient and driven points about immigrant culture and the disposable attitude towards working people. It is a little overlong and oddly structured (some key events happen earlier than it feels necessary in context of the story), but you’d definitely order from this particularly kitchen again.

IN UK & IRISH CINEMAS FROM FRIDAY 28 MARCH