The Grill: an allegory on contemporary America (critic)
Behind the doors of a New York restaurant, Alonso RuizPalacios transforms the culinary experience into a chaotic symphony turned in a striking black and white.
In the bowels of “The Grill”, close to Times Square, is agitating a boiling micro-company. Here the orders pile up as tensions accumulate. Pedro (impressive Raúl Briones) is an ambitious Mexican cook who maintains a secret link with Julia (Rooney Mara), an pregnant American waitress who plans to abort. Around them Gravite Estela, the new recruit freshly arrived from Mexico, Rashid, the manipulative boss, and a constellation of employees with various origins, united by the infernal cadence of kitchens. Alonso RuizPalacios, who was a diver, knows this universe. His camera twirls in a dazzling technical ballet which transforms this kitchen into a battlefield where languages, cultures and ambitions collide. A dizzying sequence during the lunch service is one of the wildest moments of this virtuoso film. But The Grill is not only a social chronicle; It is above all an allegory on contemporary America. These invisible workers, often undocumented, simmer the American machine while remaining in the vapor of the stoves. “You can’t dream in a kitchen,” said Pedro, himself wearing tenacious hopes. If the film sometimes stretches in length (2h19!), The tension rises to the final cathartic explosion. Adapted from a 1957 play, the film finds a special resonance in today’s America. Like lobsters in the restaurant aquarium, the characters are trapped in illusory freedom. And the background of the American dream is much less glamorous than we imagine.
By Alonso RuizPalacios with Raúl Brones, Rooney Mara, Anna Díaz … Duration 2h19. Released April 2, 2025
