Rent La Cocina (2024)

Tickets, Tension, Trouble - La Cocina review by griggs

La Cocina is a solid, if slightly uneven, kitchen-sink drama—quite literally, since most of it takes place in a subterranean, windowless kitchen beneath a swanky, tourist-trap restaurant in Times Square. The highlight is a gripping 14-minute single-take sequence set during the lunch rush, where knives fly, orders pile up, and the dreaded ticket machine begins to accelerate like a ticking bomb. All the while, the kitchen quietly floods, unnoticed by the staff, adding to the mounting dread.

It’s hard not to think of Boiling Point, which maintained that pressure for an entire film with a single continuous shot. La Cocina doesn’t go that far—it lacks that level of confidence or control—but the influence is clear. Still, this film brings its own flavour. The underground setting, the leaking soda machine, the sensory overload—it all makes the space feel less like a kitchen and more like the engine room in Das Boot: claustrophobic, boiling, and always seconds from disaster.

The plot kicks off when money goes missing, triggering a top-down manhunt. The undocumented Latino staff—previously invisible—suddenly find themselves under suspicion in what morphs into a grim, Noir-tinged mystery. Upstairs, it’s all charm and curated smiles, with attractive white waitresses fronting the operation, while a smug, exploitative owner hides behind his fashionable suit and secure immigration status, sending his lackeys to do his dirty work.

La Cocina doesn’t always stick the landing. Its social commentary can be a bit blunt, and its storytelling loses focus at times. But there’s a raw, urgent energy when it hits its stride—especially when the pressure’s turned all the way up.