Janey Godley opened up about living with her terminal cancer diagnosis and how she's taking steps to make things easier for her family.
16.02.2024 - 08:01 / deadline.com
“It’s about a whole bunch of things,” Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios says when quizzed on the subject of his latest feature, La Cocina, debuting this evening at the Berlin Film Festival. “In equal parts, it explores the topic of work, the American dream, the failure of the American dream, and abortion rights. That’s a really tough question as a director.”
Ruizpalacios has a point. Starring Rooney Mara and shot in a crisp digital black-and-white, La Cocina is hard to define. Running just short of two-and-a-half hours, the pic is a complex and formally ambitious tale, perhaps best described as a tragicomedy, set in a deathly busy New York City restaurant called The Grill.
The film opens during the lunch rush at The Grill, where, to the fury of the restaurant management, money has gone missing from the till. As a result, all the undocumented cooks are now subject to a rouge investigation and Pedro (Raúl Briones) is the prime suspect. Pedro is a dreamer and one of the kitchen’s largest characters. He’s also in love with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who refuses to commit to their relationship. But when Rashid, The Grill´s owner, promises to help Pedro with his immigration papers, he sees a future for himself with Julia in the U.S. But when an unexpected revelation about Julia is revealed, Pedro spirals, causing an explosion in the kitchen.
Ruizpalacios, best known for his 2014 debut Gueros, says La Cocina was inspired by his time working at a restaurant he describes as a “horrible tourist trap” called the Rainforest Cafe during his time as a student in London.
“In those types of places, you meet all kinds of people from all corners of the world that you would never really meet outside work,” Ruizpalacios
Janey Godley opened up about living with her terminal cancer diagnosis and how she's taking steps to make things easier for her family.
Suede‘s Brett Anderson has released a cover of the Echo & the Bunnymen’s classic ‘The Killing Moon’ as part of a new project.Anderson has worked with Paraorchestra and their founder and artistic director Charles Hazlewood on ‘The Death Songbook’, a collaborative 12-track album featuring original compositions and “re-imagining iconic songs exploring love, loss and transcendence” by artists including Depeche Mode, Suede and Japan. The album includes guest features by Nadine Shah, Gwenno, Seb Rochford of Sons of Kemet and Adrian Utley of Portishead.Paraorchestra is the world’s only ensemble consisting of both professional disabled and non-disabled musicians playing an unconventional mix of traditional orchestral, acoustic, and electronic instruments and using assistive technology.‘The Death Songbook’ will be released on April 19 via BMG.Check out Anderson’s cover of ‘The Killing Moon’ below:Our mate @BrettAndersonHQ of @suedeHQ has just released a stunning version of ‘The Killing Moon’, the lead track from the new full-length album, ‘Death Songbook’ by Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Charles Hazlewood (featuring Nadine Shah and Gwenno) is available now! pic.twitter.com/cZnzmiYTv1— Echo & the Bunnymen (@Bunnymen) February 29, 2024“The Death Songbook was an idea Charles came up with during the bleak days of lockdown.
Olly Alexander has shared the new solo track ‘Dizzy’, which will also serve as the UK’s official entry for Eurovision 2024. Check it out below.Released today (March 1), the track was written by Alexander in collaboration with electronic producer Danny L Harle (Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Caroline Polachek), and looks to capture that same intoxicating rush felt when with someone new.Inspired by the club classics of the ‘00s, the song also comes alongside a new music video – capturing a head-spinning representation of the emotions described in the lyrics and blurring the line between fantasy and reality.“I wrote the song last summer with Danny L Harle, we started off with the word ‘Dizzy’ because it just popped into my head and I liked it.
Coronation Street fans have said there should have been a 'warning' to them over Tim and Sally Metcalfe's latest scenes as they pair got talking about the weather - but it's not what you'd think - as they also compared them to a legendary soap couple.
Alex Ritman “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories. HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis.
Ellise Shafer Amanda Seyfried reflected on being cast as a mother at the Berlin Film Festival press conference for her new film “Seven Veils,” saying that “it seems like once I popped out a baby, I was just playing mothers.” However, the mom of two does feel the roles she’s been given have “become way richer.” In “Seven Veils,” Seyfried plays Jeanine, a theater director who is forced to deal with repressed trauma as she prepares a production of the opera “Salome.” When asked if she related to the character, Seyfried said she sympathized with Jeanine’s struggles as a mother. “In my career, it’s still a bit new to play a mother.
Marta Balaga From Namibian western to animated revenge thriller, from Bosnian family saga to a lesbian vampire breakup story, 10 upscale scripted TV projects were spotlighted at the Berlinale Series Market’s Co-Pro Series on Tuesday morning, representing “unique and bold choices with regard to genre and perspective, on top of great storytelling,” Martina Bleis, Head of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, observed before the presentation.. “This should attract buyers and co-producers now, and will surely convince discerning audiences once they have been made,” With Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy joining climate change satire “S.O.L.,” created by late Ruth McCance, or Cannes-awarded director Aida Begić now focusing on “Mirrors,” it was a high-profile affair.
First-time mum Scarlett Moffatt has admitted she feels like she was "lulled into a false sense of security" about the changes to her body after giving birth.The former Gogglebox favourite welcomed her first child, a son named Jude, in June last year and revealed that after spending the first eight months "glowing", it's all changed, and not for the better. Posting a video to her Instagram page - which she confirmed to her 2.5 million followers was filter-free - the 33 year old discussed her hair snapping, a "hormonal chin of spots galore", and her new "ginormous" J-cup bra size.
“This might sound very irresponsible, but I don’t know what I’m doing,” South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo told a Berlinale presser this afternoon when quizzed on his unique directing style.
Rooney Mara is pregnant!
Scottish actor David Tennant opened up the BAFTA awards with a gag about the film Saltburn and a dig at the US elections. Film stars including Cillian Murphy, Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper were some in attendance.
“The first shape I had in mind for this film was fiction,” filmmaker Mati Diop told a Berlin Film Festival presser this morning when quizzed on the structure of her inventive documentary Dahomey.
Catherine Bray Two years after their Berlinale prizewinner “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” veteran German director Andreas Dresen and his regular screenwriter Laila Stieler reteam for the moving drama “From Hilde, With Love.” Drawing on the compelling real-life case of the Hilde and Hans Coppi, a young married couple arrested and executed for treason by the Gestapo in wartime Berlin, the film cross-cuts between an idyllic summer romance and much darker later events.
Filmmaker Andreas Dresen and actress Liv Lisa Fries took part morning in the press conference for new drama From Hilde, With Love, which debuts this weekend in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
TV star Alex Jones is best known for fronting BBC's The One Show but away from the cameras, the Welsh presenter and her husband Charlie Thomson, who is from New Zealand, live a regular life with their young family in their London home.The couple share three children together: Teddy, six, Kit, four, and Annie, two. Alex, met insurance broker Charlie at a party back in 2011 and they announced their engagement four years later. She said at the time that she didn't want an over-the-top wedding saying: "It'll be just with our close friends and family and a day when everybody can have a bit of a laugh." The happy couple tied the knot on New Year's Eve in 2015 in a private ceremony at Cardiff Castle.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Before demonstrating himself to be one of Mexico’s most original and exciting new filmmaking talents, Alonso Ruizpalacios washed dishes in a bustling big-city kitchen. That experience informs every second of the “Museo” director’s fourth feature, “La Cocina,” a thrilling in-spirit adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play “The Kitchen,” transposed from midcentury London to modern-day New York.
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios has had a winning record coming to the Berlin Film Festival since 2013, when his film Gueros took the Best First Feature prize. Five years later he was back with his second, the sensational museum-heist film Museo, and deservedly won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. His third, A Cop Movie, which plays with the traditional docu form by using actors, won Best Documentary at Mexico’s Golden Ariel Awards.
Labyrinthine corridors connect the sprawling worlds within The Grill, a traditional eatery by the hustle and bustle of Times Square in “La Cocina.” Open one door, and you are in the kitchen, a boiler room of rage and frustration tamed only by the often frail bonds of camaraderie; turn a corner, and you’re spat straight onto the busy restaurant floor, where waitresses in matching outfits move like a ballet between tables occupied with birthday boys and men as foreign to politeness as hawks are to the sea.
OK, we’ve been through this one before, but let’s recap. In late fall of 2022, an incredible project was announced worth of our Most Anticipated Films Of The Year list, but perhaps more for 2025.
Rooney Mara is in London this weekend to promote her new film “La Cocina,” Alonso Ruizpalacios‘ restaurant drama that has its world premiere at the Berlinale today. And during an audience Q&A, the actress had updates on a couple of other upcoming projects she’s involved in.