Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares’ Stylish Feature Debut, The Kitchen Is Lacking Sci-Fi

Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares’ collaborative feature The Kitchen boasts style for days. Tavares channels his past experience as an architect into a striking dystopian housing project that hosts a societal thriller about universal class issues, taking a stand against blanket gentrification. It’s rooted in universal storytelling that’s shapeshifted into many forms: 2022’s Athena, 2011’s Attack the Block, and even 2005’s Land of the Dead. The problem? All of these sibling watches are markedly more interesting. Kaluuya and co-writer Joe Murtagh preach a message from the heart, but the inner workings of The Kitchen ring more hollow than the remarkable visuals suggest.

In futuristic London, all social housing has been eliminated. Izi (Kane Robinson) dreams of living in a deluxe luxury apartment, but resides in a community of folks who refuse to abandon their dingy complex known as “The Kitchen.” Through a series of events, Izi starts looking out for a now motherless Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) despite plans to move elsewhere. Together, Izi and Benji navigate London’s unjust class system while trying to escape their poverty-stricken home. If they can survive police raids and gang mischief, maybe someday they’ll graduate to comfortable living conditions (a privilege in this look ahead at what our housing market could become without regulation or correction).

The parallels up and down The Kitchen are frequent and unfortunate. Athena uses biker gang youths as Robin Hood criminals and features these tremendous law enforcement battles on the people’s turf with infinitely more vigor. Land of the Dead builds an outer-ring marketplace out of chainlink fences and leftover supplies that feels more lived-in by its inhabitants. Attack the Block speaks volumes about growing up in a “Block” environment like poor Benji, further than Kaluuya and Tavares’ depiction. The Kitchen feels like it’s constructed from the building blocks of these titles and more—an introduction to humanitarian ideas that doesn’t fully engage with what lies beneath.

It’s a shame, because the uncommon elements of The Kitchen are noteworthy. Izi’s gig as a pre-death representative selling soil plots at Life After Life—an all-natural funeral home where your corpse becomes a plant to be mourned—paints a unique picture of Kaluuya and Tavares’ universe. The same goes for the bricky slum where Izi lives, the fireworks fight where Benji briefly tries to act like a child, or the futuristic haircut mirror that overlays options like a Snapchat filter. Cinematographer Wyatt Garfield brings a grainy grit to “The Kitchen” grounds while capturing the lush vitality of Life After Life’s greenhouse effect, helping behold Kaluuya and Tavares’ vision clearly. There’s so much promise in the filmmaking duo that radiates from their stylistic choices that it feels like they’d crush a more compelling screenplay.

As is, The Kitchen feels like a first and second act without completion. Izi and Benji are meant to show us the heartbreaking realities of minorities and lower-class citizens being thrown to the street out of basic corporate greed, but not much else. There’s an artistic choice made to experience the proverbial whitewashed suck instead of advancing beyond what’s known, which is a disservice to the overall experience. Izi’s reluctant fatherhood arc and Benji’s dabbling with rebellious hellraiser types follow paths that add nothing new to the subgenre’s lexicon, which presents a rather sluggish interpretation of pertinent yet often-used themes. Robinson and Bannerman are saddled with performances relying on silent stares and low profiles, only making the pacing worse.

The Kitchen is a snoozy disappointment because its potential is apparent. Kaluuya, Tavares and Murtagh fixate too harshly on their message’s importance, overextending desperation that slinks through the hallways of (soon-to-be) modern-day peasant conditions. It’s a dry evaluation of housing crises and a meandering relationship drama that ultimately fails its otherwise attractively illustrated concept. Kaluuya and Tavares are immediately a filmmaking duo to watch based on The Kitchen, if only to see what they can do with a meatier script. Hopefully, their next one will include the oomph and depth this debut so greatly needs.

Director: Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya
Writers: Daniel Kaluuya, Joe Murtagh
Starring: Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jr, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale, BackRoad Gee
Release Date: January 19, 2024 (Netflix)

Matt Donato is a Los Angeles-based film critic currently published on SlashFilm, Fangoria, Bloody Disgusting, and anywhere else he’s allowed to spread the gospel of Demon Wind. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. Definitely don’t feed him after midnight.