Film review: ‘LA COCINA’, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Anyone who has aspirations of working in a commercial kitchen should not see La Cocina, it will kill those dreams stone dead. While well-acted, at times insightfully written and artfully shot, this extremely bitter pill of a film makes for a fairly miserable night at the movies.
La Cocina is set in the kitchen of a fictitious New York restaurant named The Grill. The cluttered, chaotic kitchen looks like a dungeon and everyone working there appears to wish they were somewhere else. Between frenzied services they squabble with each other, at times taunting and goading co-workers into violence. At the centre of the storm is the abusive, needling troublemaking junior chef Pedro (Raúl Briones Carmona) who is becoming more disruptive and out of control as he tries to deal with a tumultuous relationship with sort-of girlfriend Julia (Rooney Mara) and an accusation that he lifted money from the till.
The film tends to oscillate between Pedro and other staff members’ personal dramas and broader discussions about the plight of non-white people in the US. Most of the restaurant staff are either black Americans or undocumented migrants from Mexico, Central America, Haiti or the Dominican Republic and much of the dialogue is in Spanish. Racial tension bubbles beneath the restaurant’s frenzied activity with Pedro in particular bristling at being forced to kowtow to wealthy whites.
The obvious comparison here is a kitchen drama like The Bear but this film at times recalls the tv show Oz as characters muse and philosophise about their situation amid a harsh and threatening environment. Even when characters briefly escape the fetid kitchen, the freezing New York streets strewn with garbage bags offer no respite to the misery.
Director lonso Ruizpalacios (who has directed a few episodes of the Star Wars spin-off series Andor) and cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramirez capture this world in striking yet grim black and white. It often looks impressive but at times the artistry feels contrived as if the filmmakers are desperate to depict this world and its characters as more important, thoughtful or romantic than they are are.
Although Pedro is a mostly dislikable creep, Raúl Briones Carmona is hard to forget. He has a volatile energy and misplaced swagger that seems destined to trigger a violent reaction at any moment and we just know his story is not going to end well. Rooney Mara also gives an indelible performance as a waitress and single mother struggling to negotiate a relationship with the destructive Pedro and an unwanted pregnancy. She deftly depicts a person crumbling internally while trying to paste a tough exterior over the top. A large supporting cast also provide a spirited and often raucous backdrop.
The kitchen war zone has become something of a pop cultural cliché but La Cocina brings a new level of hostility and destructiveness to this world. Those who love shows like The Bear or who cheer Gordon Ramsay and yell at the TV for him to swear and scream at people even more will lap up La Cocina but others may find its 139 minute exhaustingly uncomfortable viewing.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Drama.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): lonso Ruizpalacios.
Release date: 15th May 2025.
Running time: 139 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.