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‘La Cocina’ Review: Rooney Mara In Wild Mexican Restaurant Kitchen-Set Drama That Makes ‘The Bear’ Look Like ‘Bambi’ – Berlin Film Festival
Premierng at the Berlin Film Festival, Rooney Mara and Raul Briones star in an intense immigrant drama set in a NYC restaurant kitchen
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, one featuring American star Rooney Mara in the cast, as well as a stunning, uninhibited, shoot-for-the-stars turn from Raul Briones who previously worked with Ruizpalacios in A Cop Movie and took the Ariel for Supporting Actor. The focus does not stay on her though and the scenario shifts to the gregarious, larger than life dreamer, Pedro as well as others, most notably American waitress Julia (Mara) whom Estela meets in the locker room and immediately notices she is pregnant. It appears to be a single 12 minute + tracking shot in and out of all areas as the staff is on overdrive, a dazzling showcase for the talents of Director of Photography Juan Pablo Ramirez, shooting in vivid B&W but putting it all on the line in this sequence, which is followed by a much quieter moment out in the back street as Pedro and some other workers talk about their hopes and dreams in coming for a better life, particularly a moving monologue by a Black employee (a superb Motell Foster).
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