Egos are charred and tempers seared in La Cocina, a kitchen nightmare set in the engine rooms of a vast Times Square eatery where the staff have more pressing things to worry about than rising temperatures. Take Pedro, a hardened and still-undocumented line cook whose outbursts of ideology can only mask his resentments and vulnerability for so long. Then there’s Julia (Rooney Mara), who is carrying Pedro’s unborn child, hiding her morning sickness in the staff room and planning to sneak out on break to get an abortion. And then there’s Estela (Anna Diaz), our eyes and ears: fresh off the proverbial boat, with barely a word of English, asking strangers on the subway how to get to 45th street before being unceremoniously tossed into a lunch shift that soon resembles The Raft of the Medusa, adrift on a sea of Cherry Coke.
The director of this lively tableaux is Alonso Ruizpalacios,...
The director of this lively tableaux is Alonso Ruizpalacios,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
If “the kitchen as war zone” has become a veritable sub-genre unto itself, Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina” is the closest thing it has to its own “Gallipoli.” The trenches are made out of stainless steel instead of rotten wood, and the steady bombardment of orders comes with a greater threat of deportation than it does that of immediate death, but a job at The Grill just outside of Times Square is no less dehumanizing than a deployment along the frontlines at Suvla Bay, and it comes without any of the same hope for glory.
On the contrary, the soul-crushing system that compels undocumented immigrants to do this kind of work depends upon keeping them out of sight; not only from Ice, but also from the tourists who can only enjoy their rubber-fried lunch because they don’t have to look at the labor that went into making it. Capitalism is...
On the contrary, the soul-crushing system that compels undocumented immigrants to do this kind of work depends upon keeping them out of sight; not only from Ice, but also from the tourists who can only enjoy their rubber-fried lunch because they don’t have to look at the labor that went into making it. Capitalism is...
- 2/16/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios has had a winning record coming to the Berlin Film Festival since 2013, when his film Gueros took the Best First Feature prize. Five years later he was back with his second, the sensational museum-heist film Museo, and deservedly won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. His third, A Cop Movie, which plays with the traditional docu form by using actors, won Best Documentary at Mexico’s Golden Ariel Awards.
Ruizpalacios belongs in the same league as iconic current Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and particularly Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose cinematic style seems closest to what Ruizpalacios has been doing. His latest trip to Berlin, La Cocina, reinforces the thrilling talent of this singular filmmaker who for the first time has shot a film using both Spanish and English. It features American star Rooney Mara as well as a stunning, uninhibited, shoot-for-the-stars turn from Raul Briones,...
Ruizpalacios belongs in the same league as iconic current Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and particularly Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose cinematic style seems closest to what Ruizpalacios has been doing. His latest trip to Berlin, La Cocina, reinforces the thrilling talent of this singular filmmaker who for the first time has shot a film using both Spanish and English. It features American star Rooney Mara as well as a stunning, uninhibited, shoot-for-the-stars turn from Raul Briones,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Before demonstrating himself to be one of Mexico’s most original and exciting new filmmaking talents, Alonso Ruizpalacios washed dishes in a bustling big-city kitchen. That experience informs every second of the “Museo” director’s fourth feature, “La Cocina,” a thrilling in-spirit adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play “The Kitchen,” transposed from midcentury London to modern-day New York.
A chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters, this black-and-white indie confection (garnished with sparing touches of color) mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura. The setting is in the guts of a high-volume midtown Manhattan restaurant called The Grill — a hectic pressure cooker where personal and professional concerns come to a boil.
The food looks edible at best, and a lot less enticing after we’ve witnessed the commotion that goes into preparing it. In Ruizpalacios’ version, practically the entire staff — not Rooney Mara’s pregnant waitress, but the ones touching the food,...
A chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters, this black-and-white indie confection (garnished with sparing touches of color) mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura. The setting is in the guts of a high-volume midtown Manhattan restaurant called The Grill — a hectic pressure cooker where personal and professional concerns come to a boil.
The food looks edible at best, and a lot less enticing after we’ve witnessed the commotion that goes into preparing it. In Ruizpalacios’ version, practically the entire staff — not Rooney Mara’s pregnant waitress, but the ones touching the food,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The FX comedy pilot “English Teacher” has found its main cast, Variety has learned exclusively.
Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, and Julian Sergi have all joined as series regulars. Carmen Christopher, Jordan Firstman, Yissendy Trinidad and Langston Kerman will all appear in recurring roles.
“English Teacher” was originally ordered to pilot in June. Production is now underway. Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote the pilot and stars as Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The show follows him and his fellow teachers “trying to balance the competing demands of the students and their parents in a world where the rules seem to change every day.” Alvarez is also an executive producer on the pilot along with Paul Simms, who is currently an executive producer on the FX shows “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Atlanta.”
Koenig will play Gwendolyn. Colantoni will play Principal Moretti. Sergi will play Markie.
Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, and Julian Sergi have all joined as series regulars. Carmen Christopher, Jordan Firstman, Yissendy Trinidad and Langston Kerman will all appear in recurring roles.
“English Teacher” was originally ordered to pilot in June. Production is now underway. Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote the pilot and stars as Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The show follows him and his fellow teachers “trying to balance the competing demands of the students and their parents in a world where the rules seem to change every day.” Alvarez is also an executive producer on the pilot along with Paul Simms, who is currently an executive producer on the FX shows “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Atlanta.”
Koenig will play Gwendolyn. Colantoni will play Principal Moretti. Sergi will play Markie.
- 9/29/2022
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish company Du Cardelin Studio is finalizing production on doc-feature “Manolo Kabezabolo,” about the life of iconic Spanish punk singer, directed by José Alberto Andrés Lacasta.
“Manolo Kabezabolo” is being introduced to the international market at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival by Du Cardelin Studio’s Carmen Pérez Mata, one of the 32 producers selected for the new edition of Match Me! the Locarno’s networking forum which takes place Aug. 5-7.
A Zaragoza-based production house, Du Cardelin has teamed with San Sebastián’s Maluta Films to co-produce the project.
The documentary narrates the life story of Manuel Méndez Lozano, better known as Manolo Kabezabolo, a punk artist who rather unpredictably has seemingly outlasted time, space and trends, without abandoning his essence and principles, to become a counter-cultural icon.
Lensing will wrap by the end of September and a Spanish theatrical release is planned for next year, Pérez Mata told Variety.
“Manolo Kabezabolo” is being introduced to the international market at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival by Du Cardelin Studio’s Carmen Pérez Mata, one of the 32 producers selected for the new edition of Match Me! the Locarno’s networking forum which takes place Aug. 5-7.
A Zaragoza-based production house, Du Cardelin has teamed with San Sebastián’s Maluta Films to co-produce the project.
The documentary narrates the life story of Manuel Méndez Lozano, better known as Manolo Kabezabolo, a punk artist who rather unpredictably has seemingly outlasted time, space and trends, without abandoning his essence and principles, to become a counter-cultural icon.
Lensing will wrap by the end of September and a Spanish theatrical release is planned for next year, Pérez Mata told Variety.
- 8/5/2022
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
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