The Kitchen — named for the rebellious, run-down fictional housing estate it is set in — is the latest entry in a relatively small sub-genre: British social-realist sci-fi. Set in a London in which the government have all but given up looking after tenants of the vast Brutalist edifice, except to deploy violent police raids, the film sees debut directors Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares offer a credibly imagined near-future for the capital, while examining present-day issues. The lure of gangs to disaffected youth, the struggles of single parenting and the inadequacy of social housing aren’t new problems, but they are adeptly woven together here and given a feature-length spotlight.
When we meet protagonist Izi (Kane Robinson, aka grime stalwart Kano), he’s showering: using up the block’s water to the chagrin of irate neighbours, as befits his self-centred attitude. He’s on the cusp of moving off the estate to a fancy new yuppie flat and knows his days in The Kitchen are numbered. But while working a shift at ecological funeral home Life After Life, he encounters teen Benji (promising newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman) mourning the loss of his mother, Izi’s ex-girlfriend. The pair tentatively strike up a relationship, with Izi taking Benji under his wing and rescuing him during one of the police raids. Izi is minded to keep Benji away from the smash-and-grab gangs trying to enlist the youngster. In the ostensible absence of a father, Izi offers the paternal guidance a good one may have yielded.
Most surprisingly, former footballer Ian Wright excels as estate DJ Lord Kitchener.
Sci-fi plays second fiddle to social-realism in Kaluuya and co-writer Joe Murtagh’s script, with imagined elements that are no huge stretch. The thrilling truck-heist opening sequence sees a motorbike gang steal food supplies to distribute back at The Kitchen. Optimists may baulk, but in an age of ever-increasing food-bank use, such scenes don’t seem that unbelievable. Likewise, the regular police raids don’t seem that far-fetched, albeit more violent than we tend to see in the UK — for now.
Although The Kitchen doesn’t offer quite enough originality or excitement to be truly great, several elements do compel. Tavares’ architectural background has evidently influenced the film’s strong visual identity, leaving us to feel just as trapped as the Kitchen residents. Robinson (in his best screen performance to date) and Bannerman are a highly watchable man-and-boy-thrown-together-by-circumstance. Most surprisingly, former footballer Ian Wright excels as estate DJ Lord Kitchener (a nod to the Trinidadian calypso star of the same name who came over to the UK on the Empire Windrush). If Kaluuya and Tavares continue their directorial careers making choices as inspired as Wright’s casting, acclaim will soon follow.
