La Cocina (15) 28th February

Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios

Cast: Raúl Briones, Rooney Mara, Anna Diaz, Motell Foster

US/Mexico, 2024, 2 hours 19 minutes, English/Spanish + English subtitles

Tensions simmer and personalities collide in The Grill, a busy Times Square restaurant where back-of-house staff chase elusive American dreams. 

Here, in fine-grained black and white, is the pressure cooker of the modern professional kitchen, shifting away from haute cuisine to the phenomenally tough lives of the immigrant workers who keep the line running. Newcomer Estela pitches up seeking work on a day when money goes missing, with swaggerer Pedro the prime suspect. Meanwhile, hostess Julia grapples with her own commitments. Derived from Arnold Wesker’s play, The Kitchen, but informed by Ruizpalacios’ own experiences, this microcosm of contemporary capitalism teeters on the edge of total chaos. 

Friday 28th February 2025, 6.30pm