Exploring immigration and the quest for the American dream, The Kitchen by Alonso Ruizpalacios goes behind the scenes of a New York restaurant, where hopes, dilemmas and tensions intersect, reflecting the cultural and social dynamics of American society.
Immigration, abortion and the quest for the American dream: these are the explosive ingredients of the Mexican-American film The Kitchenwhich takes us behind the scenes of a New York restaurant. This social fresco explores themes at the heart of the tense electoral campaign which ends next week in the United States, where the film will be released, although it does not yet have a release date in France.
Rooney Mara, best actor prize at Cannes in 2015 for Carol and two-time Oscar nominee, plays a waitress at a tourist restaurant in Times Square, among a crew made up mostly of immigrants, including Pedro, played by Mexican actor Raul Briones.
“It’s a film about contrasts – between the back kitchen and the dining room, between the ‘gringos’ (Americans) and the Mexicans, between the various hierarchies in a kitchen,” explains Mexican director and screenwriter Alonso Ruizpalacios. “Kitchens are a mirror of the social dynamics that exist in our streets,” he adds in an interview with AFP.
For Alonso Ruizpalacios, restaurants represent a “mixing of cultures”, transforming them into suitable places to “highlight cultural frictions”. “These are also places where pressure is intense, where pain can arise, but where glimmers of hope also appear,” he adds.
The film is inspired by the eponymous play by Arnold Wesker, published in 1957, which addresses the life of immigrants and the disillusionment of the dream of ascension through hard work. However, the 46-year-old director also drew inspiration from his own experience as a dishwasher in a London restaurant while studying.
In The KitchenPedro, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, falls in love with Julia, the waitress played by Rooney Mara, who is only partially receptive to his feelings. As they dream of a future together, Julia faces a crucial dilemma: should she abort or not? All this takes place in the hustle and bustle of a restaurant where the customers ignore the employees.
“I wanted to show people who work hidden from view in kitchens,” says Alonso Ruizpalacios, describing “people with families, dreams and who work very hard for little reward.” He also emphasizes his refusal to simplify his characters to avoid stereotypes: “Often, in this type of film, Americans are led to reflect on their own prejudices by idealizing others, which did not interest me.”
The characters are complex people, with their own contradictions. Although the film resonates with the current electoral campaign – the candidates striving to capture the Latino vote – the filmmaker chose to shoot in black and white, to give it a timelessness. “There is something permanent about this story, still relevant 70 years later.”
With AFP
