London, 2040 — rising house prices, computerized labor and eradication of the Welfare State has turned the city into a billionaire’s playground, pushing the lower classes to provincial empty slum-like high rises like The Kitchen. Ex-Smash-and-Grabber Izi is desperate to go straight but when his young son contracts a devastating illness, he is forced to take part in a heist that will change the lives of everyone in The Kitchen forever.
Review:
The vitality of family and the community gets lost in the constant police raids, even the motorcycle scenes in the sci-fi future drama The Kitchen, the debut directing feature for Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya.
The future London ghetto known as The Kitchen, isn’t too different from most housing projects. They’re is a lack of resources: undependable electricity, water shutoffs, general disrepair and decay, frequent police surveillance by drones. The place is valuable for its land, London being overcrowded and superior new living spaces for the uppercrust being desirable for developers. The Kitchen is the last place left. The only problem, the residents refuse to leave. So they are being subject to starvation of resources and food to change their minds. The raids are designed to whittle the community little by little. But this is a resourceful and united community forced to live on the lower edges.
Standing alone, but forced to live within, is Izi (a dynamic Kane Robinson), a selfish striver who sells burial packages for a future funeral home that composts the dead into future trees. He is saving for an upscale apartment away from this slum. When he encounters Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) , a teen orphaned mourner, and possible son, his life and motives start to change.
At its heart The Kitchen is about connection. The family drama is the real movie. All the other stuff is just complications in a snazzy sci-fi outfit. It just takes away from the main story. This could have been a much better film if set in the present day, and just focusing on the grind and hard work it takes to be a family.
The Kitchen scores political points about gentrification and the privatization of England’s once-thriving social housing, at the expense of its main drama. To its credit the funeral home is really good hearted and well intentioned, not some nefarious corporation planning evil schemes. In the end, it even becomes a faux church, a place for the community to heal, sing, rejoice and consecrate.
The direction, by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, is sure and unfussy, spinning a warmly humane story of cross-generational connection. Whenever the film threatens to slide into sentiment, the actors yank it back. They make The Kitchen a worthwhile watch.
The Kitchen gets a 3.0/5 or a B+. It’s streaming on Netflix.
Credits:
Directed by
Written by
- Daniel Kaluuya
- Joe Murtagh
Produced by
- Daniel Emmerson
- Daniel Kaluuya
Starring
- Kane Robinson
- Jedaiah Bannerman
- Hope Ikpoku Jr
- Teija Kabs
- Demmy Ladipo
Cinematography
Wyatt Garfield
Edited by
- Christian Sandino-Taylor
- Maya Maffioli
Music by
- Labrinth
- Alex Baranowski
Production
companies
- Film4
- DMC Film
- 59% Productions
Distributed by
Release dates
- October 15, 2023(BFI)
- January 12, 2024(United Kingdom)
Running time
107 minutes[1]
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
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