La cocina

Rooney Mara (Carol, Nightmare Alley) and Raúl Briones star in La cocina, loosely based on Arnold Wesker's play. The film by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Güeros, Museo) is set in the kitchen of a famous restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. One day, at lunchtime, money disappears from the till and everything suggests that the main suspect is Pedro, a rebellious dreamer who has a casual relationship with the waitress Julia. Through provocative camera movements, the Mexican director portrays the pressure and noise these employees live under, revealing the power dynamics implicit in their work environment. Ruizpalacios, who in his student days actually worked in a London kitchen, constructs a tribute, both tragic and comic in equal parts, to the invisible people in these spaces. And offers, at the same time, a glimpse into the lives of the immigrants who arrive in the United States every day in search of the ‘American dream’: a myth that leaves little room for the possibility of making dreams come true.