9 d. ago ‘A kitchen film with no food porn’: how Alonso Ruizpalacios sold Rooney Mara on his abortion drama

The Mexican director of La Cocina on making movies under the Trump-Vance administration, why Oscars don’t matter and his time as a khaki-shorted waiter at the Rainforest CafeAnyone who visited the Rainforest Cafe, a now defunct Piccadilly Circus tourist trap serving overpriced burgers among plastic foliage and animatronic wildlife, may have met a future auteur without realising it. In the early 00s, Alonso Ruizpalacios was not the gifted, ingenious director he is today – the man behind A Cop Movie, a slippery psychodrama that breaks the laws of documentary, and the new La Cocina, starring Rooney Mara as a waitress at a hectic New York restaurant. Back then, he wore baggy khaki shorts and welcomed customers to the Rainforest Cafe. “Hi, I’m Alonso and I’ll be your safari guide today,” he would say. “You guys been here before? No? Well, this is Bamba, our gorilla. Occasionally there will be rain showers, but – hey – don’t be afraid, you won’t get wet!”Sitting in a London hotel room wit...

Events

9 d. ago La Cocina review – Rooney Mara gets stuck in in New York restaurant kitchen drama

The tempestuous chef trope has been done better elsewhere and this kitchen as a microcosm of exploited migrant workers is a disappointmentHere is a strangely exhausting movie, quaintly imagining the frenzied atmosphere of a New York restaurant kitchen as a microcosm of exploited migrant workers, full of macho shouting and self-conscious acting, with every speech a drama school audition piece. The Mexican film-maker Alonso Ruizpalacios has given us some terrific work in the past, such as his debut Güeros, his drama-thriller Museum and his rather amazing docudrama A Cop Movie, but I couldn’t make friends with this strained and histrionic picture. It is in English and Spanish, shot in black-and-white, but sometimes shifting to different colour filters, and inspired by The Kitchen, the 1957 stage play by Arnold Wesker.Raúl Briones (who was an officer in A Cop Movie) plays Pedro, one of the chefs, a hot-tempered guy who has already had a brawl in the kitchen the previous night. Anna Díaz...

Events

1 week ago ‘We Are Stuck’: Heathrow Closure Creates Havoc for Travelers

‘We Are Stuck’: Heathrow Closure Creates Havoc for Travelers  The New York Times

Politics

2 w. ago The reluctant collaborator: surviving Syria’s brutal civil war – and its aftermath

At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killedMustafa was 16 when he was detained and beaten by the police for the first time. It was early 2011, and the first stirrings of the Arab spring had grown into anti-government demonstrations across the Middle East. In Syria, a sense of anxious anticipation hung in the air, and the government was responding with propaganda films and TV shows designed to fire up nationalist sentiment. A friend of Mustafa’s hired him to play an extra in one of these shows. The job didn’t pay much, but it was more fun than the long hours Mustafa spent working in a restaurant kitchen. Tall and handsome, with dark eyes and long eyelashes, Mustafa dreamed that maybe one day he could join the long list of Syrians who starred on Arab TV dramas.The youngest of three brothers and a sister, Mustafa had grown up in a crowded working-class district in the eastern ...

Events

2 w. ago Beatings, bribery, boredom: one man’s struggle to survive Syria’s brutal civil war

At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killedMustafa was 16 when he was detained and beaten by the police for the first time. It was early 2011, and the first stirrings of the Arab spring had grown into anti-government demonstrations across the Middle East. In Syria, a sense of anxious anticipation hung in the air, and the government was responding with propaganda films and TV shows designed to fire up nationalist sentiment. A friend of Mustafa’s hired him to play an extra in one of these shows. The job didn’t pay much, but it was more fun than the long hours Mustafa spent working in a restaurant kitchen. Tall and handsome, with dark eyes and long eyelashes, Mustafa dreamed that maybe one day he could join the long list of Syrians who starred on Arab TV dramas.The youngest of three brothers and a sister, Mustafa had grown up in a crowded working-class district in the eastern ...

Events

3 w. ago Bake Off judge Prue Leith was ‘shouted at’ by head chef at start of her career

The 85-year old restaurateur opened up about the ‘horrible’ kitchen atmosphere she endured in the 70s and 80s.

Events

3 w. ago Paris Fashion Week: Sarah Burton takes the reins at Givenchy in style

The designer of the Princess of Wales’ iconic wedding dress makes her Givenchy runway debut.

Politics

3 w. ago Paris Fashion Week: Sarah Burton takes the reigns at Givenchy in style

The designer of the Princess of Wales’ iconic wedding dress makes her Givenchy runway debut.

Politics