In the heart of a bustling Times Square kitchen, dreams and desperation collide as the staff each chase the elusive American dream.
Don’t go into this expecting The Bear. It’s not that high-paced, ferentic, non-stop emotional turmoil that we’ve all come to know and love.
Well, some of it is.
But the rest of it is much slower, quite thoughtful, and definitely gorgeous to look at. You’ll recognize Rooney Mara from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Laura Gomez from Orange is the New Black, but everyone else is a fresh face. To me, at least.. and I think I have a good handle on actors and whatnot.
This movie doesn’t need the stars, though, cause it’s filled with authentic talent and genuine passion.
This is a full movie. The characters are all so human. The story is so real. It’s basically a day during the kitchen shift of a Time Square restaurant that we never even seen the front door of.
We’re mostly back of the house here, y’all. We enter through the back and spend most of our time in, you guessed it, la cocina. Sure, we get to see the dining room occasionally, the back alley where the back of the house team hangs out, and an office, as the employees are questioned individually about some missing money.
We get glimpses of everyone and pieces of their lives, both inside and outside of the restaurant. This is how the story is formed. The script is incredible in the way it brings everything together.
This movie is based on a 1957 stage play “The Kitchen”, which had already been adapted into a 1961 film of the same name.
Shot in black and white, the shots are crisp and creamy. It makes the movie higher stakes than it should be. This matches the energy of kitchen work.
Also, one of my favorite liquids of all time plays a significant part in all the drama.
The score is sparse but effective. Often, there is not much of a score besides the sounds of the kitchen and it really works.
There is a moment at the end where cleaning up offers the soundtrack for a monologue – I don’t think many scenes have been more effective at driving home the message of a movie for me. It happens about 90 minutes into the film. You’ll know it when you see it.
This movie is about the American Dream at its heart. And it’s heartbreaking.
You know what? I feel bad for folks who end up here expecting any real movie review instead of these random ramblings that fall out of my brain. Thanks for reading anyways, I guess?
