Immigrant dreams boil over in US-Mexican film 'La Cocina'

LOS ANGELES, United States — Immigration, abortion and the eternal search for the American Dream make up the ingredients of "La Cocina", a new film that examines the United States' most divisive issues through the microcosm of a New York restaurant kitchen.

The tense, claustrophobic drama stars Oscar nominee Rooney Mara ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") as an American waitress at a bustling Times Square tourist trap staffed mainly by immigrants.

"It's a film about contrasts — the contrast between back-of-house and front-of-house, between gringos and Mexicans, between the different hierarchies within a kitchen," said Mexican director and writer Alonso Ruizpalacios.

"Kitchens are an easy way to understand the dynamics we experience on the streets," he told AFP.

Its release in Los Angeles theaters Friday, and nationwide next week, coincides with a US presidential election in which both sides have vied for Latino votes, and migration has been a fiercely contested issue.

In recent days, an off-colour joke by a comedian at a New York rally for Donald Trump, calling the US territory of Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage", has caused particular controversy.

For Ruizpalacios, restaurant kitchens are "melting pot of cultures" that naturally attract people of all nationalities, making them perfect settings for "highlighting the frictions between cultures."

"They are also places where the pressure is very, very high... sometimes very painful things come out, and sometimes occasionally hopeful ones too," he said.

Though based on a 1957 play of the same name, "La Cocina" focuses more directly on immigrants' experiences, and how the dream of progress through hard work can prove an illusion.

Ruizpalacios based his script on his own experiences working as a dishwasher in a similarly giant, commercial restaurant in London, during his student years.

No saints 

In "La Cocina," undocumented Mexican immigrant and idealistic dreamer Pedro (Raul Briones) falls in love with Mara's waitress Julia, who only partly reciprocates his passion.

While he yearns for an idyllic future with her, Julia is preoccupied with a more practical dilemma -- whether to abort the baby she is expecting.

"I wanted to show the people behind the closed doors of the kitchens," said the director.

"Behind those doors there are people who have families, who have dreams, and who work very hard and for very little money."

His immigrants bear their own flaws and even dark sides.

"Often in these types of films, in order to make the American observe his own racism and prejudices, we simplify the other and turn him into a saint -- I was not interested in that," said Ruizpalacios.

"They are also complex people, with contradictions."

While the film's themes resonate in the context of the imminent election, Ruizpalacios expressed hope that it can provide broader insight into the enduring fabric of US society.

He shot the film in black-and-white, to avoid tying it to any particular era.

"There is something timeless in this story," he said, referring back to the original 1957 play.

"It is still relevant 70 years later."