If you ever caught yourself bemoaning the fact that Daniel Kaluuya’s brilliant performance went largely overlooked and underseen in Steve McQueen’s masterful “Widows” in 2018, well, you’re not alone. The actor/director seems to have taken note of that grave injustice as well, channeling much of the same energy of the crime drama for his co-directing debut in “The Kitchen.” Much like “Widows,” the upcoming Netflix film seems to emphasize the struggle of making a living in an economic system that might as well be set up for most to fail. Instead of being driven to pull off the tensest heist you’ll ever see, our main characters are simply fighting to survive in a world without social housing. The official synopsis for the movie goes like this:
In a dystopian London, the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains. A community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. This is where we meet a solitary Izi, living here by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and a 12-year-old Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them.
“The Kitchen” stars Kane Robinson as Izi and Jedaiah Bannerman making his acting debut as Benji, alongside a cast made up of Hope Ikpoku Jr, Ian Wright, BackRoad Gee, Cristale, Teija Kabs, and Demmy Ladipo. Netflix subscribers can look forward to the movie’s streaming premiere on January 19, 2024.
