2025 Film Viewing Diary: #12 Toward the end of January, I continued my Indie Spirit viewing with Alonso Ruizpalacios's immigration/kitchen dramedy, LA COCINA. I really wanted to love this. There are so many elements that could have made this a film that I would absolutely adore. 1/ - ThreadSky

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joshhornbeck.bsky.social • 13 days ago

2025 Film Viewing Diary: #12

Toward the end of January, I continued my Indie Spirit viewing with Alonso Ruizpalacios's immigration/kitchen dramedy, LA COCINA. I really wanted to love this. There are so many elements that could have made this a film that I would absolutely adore. 1/

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joshhornbeck.bsky.social•13 days ago

But those elements never quite came together for me. I appreciate the absolutely gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, and I admire the long takes that move throughout the kitchen and restaurant effortlessly in the midst of all of the organized chaos. 2/

joshhornbeck.bsky.social•13 days ago

And I can appreciate the exploration of the death of the American Dream for immigrants, especially the way that America pits immigrants against one another. 3/

joshhornbeck.bsky.social•13 days ago

All of those elements are interesting and compelling on their own, but they never fully cohere - the splashes of color within the black-and-white and the long sequence shots feel more like expressions of style rather than arising out of the narrative. 4/

joshhornbeck.bsky.social•13 days ago

And centering the film on a selfish, abusive man who we're asked to feel sorry for because his girlfriend had an abortion feels as though the film is centering the wrong experience. 5/

joshhornbeck.bsky.social•13 days ago

There's enough here that I want to revisit the film and see if it grows on me, but on a first watch, there's a lot of technical prowess, but I wanted to see more. (Watched on the Film Independent Screening Portal) 6/6

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