“La Cocina,” Mexican writer/director Alonzo Ruizpalacios’ searing black and white slice of nightmare, is a monumental work of righteous anger. Set in the narrow, combustible confines of a kitchen belonging to a New York City tourist trap of a restaurant, in the story of a flammable Mexican cook named Pedro (Raúl Briones), the film follows in the footsteps walked by Fritz Lang and Charlie Chaplin, taking aim at the grinding, chewing machinery of not only the American dream but the remnant of the failed egalitarian promise of industrial commerce.  – RogerEbert.com

“There’s a surging life force felt in every scene of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ superbly acted La Cocina — at times ebullient but more often on edge, if not careening dangerously toward disaster or violence. Think The Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser and you get some idea of the sustained intensity and simmering pressure of this bruising tragicomedy about what the diners (mostly) don’t see during a working day in a busy Times Square restaurant.” – The Hollywood Reporter