Berlinale 2024 | ‘La Cocina’ finds love and loneliness in New York kitchen
The Hindu
Director Alonso Ruizpalacios dug deep into his past to make “La Cocina”, a frenetic look at the lives, loves and chaos surrounding the migrants who work in a restaurant on New York City’s Times Square
Director Alonso Ruizpalacios dug deep into his past to make "La Cocina", a frenetic look at the lives, loves and chaos surrounding the migrants who work in a restaurant on New York City's Times Square.
The Mexican-U.S. drama, one of 20 films competing for the festival's Golden Bear top prize, was, he said, designed to show the fate of migrants, who, far from reaching a promised land after long and perilous journeys, often continued to live in a state of suspension.
The film documents, in a washed-out black-and-white that makes sumptuous delicacies look like ash, the story of a single midday service.
A 10-minute shot, filmed over a week, tracks the intricate dance of cooks and servers, Mexican, Moroccan, Ecuadorian and even American, as, laughing and rowing in a dozen languages, they turn chaos into lunch.
"When I was a student, I worked in a Rainforest Cafe place, which is a very un-food-porn restaurant," Ruizpalacios said. "I was more drawn to that, the collective experience...a band of brothers, but as soon as the rush starts, it's everyone for himself."
The staff work magic, but live in deep insecurity, with the threat of deportation hanging over them - a weakness the restaurant shamelessly exploits.
"I saw in it an opportunity to portray the loneliness of the migrant," said Anna Diaz, who portrayed. 19-year-old Estela, a cook newly arrived from Mexico, blinking back tears.
Political economist Parakala Prabhakar has described the exit poll results as “fudged figures”, saying that those would benefit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) only. “False predictions were given with the sole objective of helping the NDA in rigging during the counting,” alleged Mr. Prabhakar, after releasing a book titled ‘Avineeti Chakravarthi Narendra Modi’ penned by former Minister Vadde Shobanadreeswara Rao, here, on June 2 (Sunday).