‘The Kitchen’ Review: Kibwe Tavares And Daniel Kaluuya’s Urban Sci-Fi Finds An Emotional Arc In A Grim Vision Of The Future – London Film Festival
deadline.comThere’s a soaring ambition but only a modest intent in Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s sober debut The Kitchen, a visually impressive depiction of things to come that simmers with all manner of protest but never hits boiling point.
On the one hand, it’s a shame, ending on a quiet moment of understanding just as all hell is about to break loose. But on the other, it’s refreshing to see two young filmmakers trying to hone their storytelling skills rather than pour everything into a spectacular calling card.
If Attack the Block hadn’t been so slavish in trying to siphon inspiration from much better cult movies to become a cult movie in its own right, it might have looked like this: a genuine vision of a nightmarish, dystopian future that will ring alarm bells for any city-dweller familiar with the depressing effects of gentrification.
The Kitchen is a sink estate somewhere in London. But although it is most likely inspired by the nefarious goings-on in the city’s Elephant & Castle, where redevelopers promised social housing to its displaced residents and then turfed them out on their ears, the landscape is eerily unplaceable, thanks to a surfeit of skyscrapers and other landmarks that blurrily clutter up the horizon (might that be the London Eye in the background, one of Wembley’s arches, or neither?).
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