The Kitchen (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Thursday, February 01

R Running Time: 107 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • The Kitchen has a lot to say and builds a compelling world with which to frame its dystopian view of the future.

  • Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya teams with Kibwe Tavares in a collective directorial debut, which shows strong instincts and good command behind the camera.

  • Impressive visual effects and production and set design amplify a film which was quietly dropped into the Netflix platform.

NO

  • The film’s pacing feels off and may move too slow and deliberate for viewers expecting something more robust.

  • The film feels like it has too much to say and sometimes bogs down in trying to communicate a message it believes to be important.

  • For all the plot framing and set-up, The Kitchen may not be as hot to the touch as it truly wants to be.


OUR REVIEW

In a dystopian London, a group of residents live in a broken down, brutalized housing estate known as “The Kitchen.” Randomly raided by the authorities, residents cling to whatever they have left to call home and try to survive amid increasing economic disparity between those who have and those who have little left.

For Izi (Kane Robinson), a future is quietly being planned for himself beyond The Kitchen’s dilapidated walls and structure. Attempting to save money to put a deposit down on a new apartment in the spacious and technologically advanced Buena Vida complex on “the other side of town,”  Izi seeks his pathway out of the tension and misfortune he has grown weary of.

Co-directed by Kibwe Tavares and Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, both making their directorial feature debuts, The Kitchen is a science fiction film set just adjacent to the real world. To the film’s credit, the world these characters inhabit feels close to the touch. 

Izi’s job, working as a salesperson at an eco-friendly funeral home called Life After Life, places an inescapable reminder of one’s mortality. Izi’s task is to convince people, with minimal resources, to have their loved one’s remains used as a soil for planting a new tree. The trees grow in the funeral home for a set period of time and, eventually, are replanted elsewhere.

There’s a bleak metaphor present here. In the world created by Tavares and Kaluuya, people care only for so long - until circumstances or situations dictate a shift into survival mode or escape. For Izi, a high-rise, single occupancy apartment, far away from “The Kitchen,” provides both.

Kaluuya, who penned the screenplay with Joe Murtagh (“The Woman in the Wall”), places a lot of focus on certain aspects of this world and the relationship which develops between Izi and a young orphaned teen, Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman). Benji, himself a customer struggling with the loss of his mother, not only latches onto Izi but falls in with a group of activists ready to fight to protect “The Kitchen,” as the place they call home.

The Kitchen has a lot of strong elements. The main performances are solid. The atmosphere Tavares and Kaluuya create in scenes within the walls of “The Kitchen,” are intense and palpable. The world-building is effective. The government shuts off water on one side of the residency. The police ambush the radio DJ who provides entertainment, encouragement, and music to the community. Tavares and Kaluuya show us that the residents of “The Kitchen” are open, naked, and exposed - vulnerable to an attack at seemingly any time.

Unfortunately though, the movie wanders and starts to lose its edge. Robinson and Bannerman are great together, as they circle around one another and develop a bond we see coming before they do. Scenes of nightlife, Benji’s first crush and his eventual acceptance by the activists is shot well by Wyatt Garfield, accentuated by a great score from Alex Baranowski and neo-soul singer/songwriter Labrinth, but does little to propel the narrative effectively.

The middle of The Kitchen moves slow and deliberate, but stands in stark contrast to the urgency of the situation and the world Izi is seeking an escape from. How one squares that knot, so to speak, will go a long way in determining how much you appreciate Tavares and Kaluuya’s debut film. 

Rare is the film with so many great singular elements that struggles to come together. As The Kitchen shifts to resolution, we are left with more questions than answers. And not to repeat an increasingly common observation, but more and more high concept movies like The Kitchen feel like they would benefit from expanding into an episodic presentation, as opposed to cramming a whole lot of ideas into one feature film. 

I know, I know - not every ambitious movie would work better as a series. However, I would argue that there is much to consider and ponder with Kaluuya and Murtagh’s worldview, commentary, and not-so-veiled statements on what London, in their estimation, is becoming. There are bountiful stories to be shared from this kitchen and Kaluuya and Tavares seem to have only scratched the surface of what this story potentially could become.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jr., Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale, Pa Salieu Gaye, Ian Wright

Director: Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares
Written by: Daniel Kaluuya, Joe Mutagh; Amy Baty (story editor)
Release Date: January 19, 2024
Netflix