La Cocina

When young Mexican Estela arrives in New York without a residence permit, she hopes to find a better future there, even though she does not speak a word of English. Pedro, a former acquaintance also living in America illegally, works at The Grill, a busy tourist restaurant on Times Square. He would get her a job there and she gets hired too, but no thanks to him. This is because he is far too busy with his girlfriend Julia, who is pregnant but considering abortion. That would suit him very badly, as a child could help him get a residence permit. Tension in the kitchen mounts when $800 has disappeared from the till. The boss suspects Pedro.

In 1957, Arnold Wesker's play The Kitchen premiered, a play about a busy morning in a restaurant. Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios adapted it into this social realist film, shot in black-and-white, about people chasing the American Dream, but really having no chance.