THE KITCHEN

UK, 2023, 107 minutes, Colour.

Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpokul Jr, Demmy Ladipo, Ian Wright.

Directed by Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares.

Promotion of The Kitchen contains the description sci-fi. Perhaps. But, it might be better described as “futuristic”, indications of a dystopian future. However, in many aspects, this future has many similarities to the present.

The film has been co-written and directed by Oskar-winning actor, Daniel Khalili a (who does not appear in the film).

The Kitchen is an area of a future London, something of a segregated neighbourhood, touch of the ghetto, inhabited by large population of black British. Part of the survival is a celebration of this culture, music and dancing, gatherings, support. But, the inhabitants of The Kitchen are under threat from invading police, armour, helmets, visors, weapons and often unbridled violence. The visuals of The Kitchen are quite striking, the vast apartment blocks, small, absence of water, open to the neighbours, the streets, the shops…

We are introduced to the central character Is the (Kane Robinson) who has ambitions to move to a luxurious new apartment is on the waiting list. He works at a futuristic funeral company, arranging for the ashes of the deceased to be transferred to pots for the growing of memorial trees. He is something of a loner, but associates in The Kitchen and at work.

The other central character is a young boy, Benji, Jedediah Bannerman, whose mother has died, who does not know who his father is (immediate audience suspicion is that Is the is his father), at the funeral home, the tree for his mother.

What emerges is easy becoming a father figure to Benji, bonding, accommodating him in his apartment, sharing discussions, taking him to a skating rink, Benji and his first possible kiss there, then Izi disappearing and Benji with some kind of disillusionment. And, then, there are the attacks by the police, Izi going to his new apartment and the dilemma of whether he will ask the double accommodation there, clashes with Benji, reconciliation, especially with his mother’s tree.

There is a final attack, brutal, but the inhabitants of the The Kitchen overcoming a police squad. And the film ends – leaving the audience to wonder about the future, but hoping for the future.,

1. The title? Expectations? The district of London, ghetto, inhabitants, poverty, police invasions?
2. The film described as science-fiction, dystopian? Yet not so far from contemporary situations?
3. The atmosphere of the kitchen, visual, crowds, accommodation, crammed, facilities, the cutting off of the water, the shops, the raiding of stores?
4. The focus on Izi, age, experience, living in the kitchen, wanting to move, his name on the list for a luxury apartment? The episode of shaving, his using the water, the queue, reactions? His going to work, the contrast, the funeral parlour, arrangements, clients, the use of trees, the remains in fostering trees? Mementos? Those working, his friendship with Jase?
5. Benji, the death of his mother, his devotion to her, her funeral, the discussion about the trees, his talking with Izi? Izi knowing his mother? Audience suspicions? Fatherhood? Izi and his care for Benji?
6. Benji, his age, searcher his father, needing a father? Bonding with Izi, going to the kitchen, to Izi’s apartment? And his character, qualities, potential? Izi and his care?
7. The outings, the skating, Benji seeing the girl, talking, the attempt to the kiss? Izi talking with Jase, disappearance? With Jase, learning he had a daughter? The presence of Staples, his role in the kitchen, revolutionary, friendship with Benji, recruiting him?
8. Life in the kitchen, the possibility for meals, the restaurant? But the police invasions, armed, violence? Attacking the citizens, the chaos? Taking some of the citizens away? Later the file of citizens moving out of the kitchen? The range of people, mainly black, the black culture, music, dancing, joy, meals? And the banging of utensils to warn that the police were coming?
9. Popular black culture in the UK, in London, gatherings, celebrations, meals, the skating, music and dancing, language and idiom?
10. Lord Kitchener, the radio, wake-up, warnings, encouragement, his playing music? Attacked and killed by the police? Izi and his funeral?
11. Benji, upset with Izi, is his return, the tension, the resolution, the meal? His wanting his mother’s tree?
12. Izi, the notification of the new apartment, computerised contact, the voice, the decision about single occupation or double? His going to the apartment, luxurious?
13. Is returning, the police invasion, escaping to the apartment, the discussions, Izi’s admission that he was Benji’s father? Leaving Benji alone? Going back to the funeral company? Bringing home the tree, the going to the roof, replanting it?
14. The bonding, Benji finding his father and father figure, the effect on Izi? The film ending – their future?