If you watch the trailer for The Kitchen, it looks like a documentary about post-Brexit Britain. Surprise! It’s actually a dystopian science fiction flick. The confusion is understandable—just don’t mix it up with the 2019 comic book adaptation of the same name.
When is The Kitchen being released in the UK?
The Kitchen is streaming in the UK exclusively on Netflix from January 19.
The Kitchen (2024)
What is The Kitchen about?
First things first, this is the feature debut of co-directors Daniel Kaluuya, who you’ll know from a whole bunch of stuff, including Get Out, Black Panther, and Judas and the Black Messiah, and Kibwe Tavares, a filmmaker and architect who has directed a string of acclaimed short subjects—Robots of Brixton is well worth your time. We bet they both read a fair whack of 2000 AD growing up.
Set in near future London, The Kitchen sees rapper Kane Robinson as Izi, a resident of the titular grim, brutalist housing estate who is moving up in the world and plans to abandon his home turf for life in a palatial (for a certain value thereof) upmarket apartment complex. A spanner is randomly thrown into the works when he encounters teenager Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) at the funeral of the young man’s mother. The deceased was Izi’s ex-girlfriend, and Benji doesn’t know who his father is. Uh oh… Cue familial drama with a wealth of sci-fi commentary on class, wealth disparity, race, and life in a crime-ridden urban hellscape. Could still be a doco, tbh.
The cast of The Kitchen
In addition to Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman, we have a largely unknown ensemble that includes Hope Ikpoku Jr, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale, BackRoad Gee, Dani Moseley, Harvey Quinn, Henry Lawfull, Lola-Rose Maxwell, Richie Lawrie, Alan Asaad, Fiona Marr, and Rasaq Kukoyi.
The Kitchen trailer
Why we’re excited about The Kitchen
British dystopian sci-fi just hits harder, as it tends to focus on a kind of heightened social realism than any of your more outrageous and largely leather-clad takes on our inevitable dark future—consider Children of Men as a prime example. Kibwe Tavares is a superb visual stylist and his background in architecture shines through in his set design and compositions, and Daniel Kaluuya’s one of the best actors currently working, so if he’s half as good behind the camera as he is in front of it, this is a must see.
