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La Cocina film image; man and woman with their foreheads pressed together

La Cocina

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The first US feature from talented Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios (if you haven’t seen A Cop Movie, stream it now!), La Cocina makes The Bear look like a pussycat. The Grill is a New York greasy spoon, and the film follows an undocumented Mexican immigrant, Estella (Anna Diaz) , thrown in at the deep end on her first day working alongside chef Pedro (Raúl Briones), whose affair with one of the waitresses, Julia (Rooney Mara) is in crisis: she is due to have an abortion this afternoon. On top of which, last night’s reckoning is $800 short. Did someone on staff take it? The work is unremitting, tempers flare, the soda machine floods. Shot in black and white, this is based on a 1957 play by Arnold Wesker set in London, but it feels plugged right into the fault lines short circuiting the US right now.

A blast of furious energy that also knows when to let up, with a few moments of gentle lyricism as punctuation. One of the year’s freshest films…

Mark Olsen, LA Times

Director

Alonso Ruizpalacios

Cast

Rooney Mara, Raúl Briones, Anna Diaz

Credits
Country of Origin

Mexico/USA

Year

2024

Language

In English and Spanish with English subtitles

19+
139 min

Book Tickets

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First Look Fridays: $10 Tickets

Enjoy $10 tickets at this film’s first Friday matinee screening.

Credits

Screenwriter

Alonso Ruizpalacios

Cinematography

Juan Pablo Ramírez

Editor

Yibrán Asuad

Original Music

Tomás Barreiro

Production Design

Sandra Cabriada

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