The Kitchen

Bland. Mucky & Pointless. Offers no value. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

The movie is just too vague and low on ingredients (or a real story) to offer it's audience anything of worth.

The setting and timeframe feels stolen from a much better dystopian movie which offers nothing to the plot. The SciFi elements feel more like they are added to reinforce an idea which is already wafer-thin and feels hindered by budget to actually create any impact.

The story is more of a premise that hasn't been formulated into anything, which combined by the weak characters results in a complete lack of focus where no one really stands out, there is no one to root for and by the end you don't care about any of them.

And what leaves a bad taste in the mouth is that the trailer is deceptively misleading. You think you're getting something gourmet but it's just boil in the bag.

The Kitchen is a dystopian drama that follows the lives of Izi, a funeral home worker, and Benji, a young boy he mentors, as they struggle to survive in a bleak urban environment of some unexplained future. The movie attempts to create a futuristic setting, but fails to integrate it into the story or explore its implications. The movie also suffers from a lack of direction, character development, and dialogue, leaving the audience detached and dissatisfied. The only redeeming quality of the movie is the performance of Hope Ikpoku Jnr as Staples, a charismatic gang leader who steals every scene he is in. Overall, "The Kitchen" is a disappointing and boring movie that wastes its potential and its cast and it is another brick in the Netflix collection of trash.

The movie opens with a scene of a group of kids on motorbikes robbing a food truck and bringing it back to their community, known as the Kitchen. The movie never explains why the Kitchen is in such a state of poverty and oppression, or why the police are trying to evict its residents. The movie also never shows how the futuristic elements, such as high-tech messages on the mirror or holographic advertisements, affect the lives of the characters or the society. The movie seems to use these elements as mere props, without any meaningful connection to the plot or the themes, basically Sci-Fi sells so we should throw some of that in sort of feeling.

The movie then introduces us to Izi, who works at a funeral home and dreams of escaping the Kitchen and finding a better place to live. He meets Benji, a young boy who has lost his parents and is living on the streets. Izi takes Benji under his wing and tries to teach him how to survive in the harsh reality of the Kitchen. The movie tries to portray the bond between Izi and Benji, but fails to make us care about them or their struggles. The movie does not give us any insight into their personalities, backgrounds, or motivations. The movie also does not show us how they grow or change as a result of their experiences. Some other characters, such as "Lord Kitchen", a mysterious figure who broadcasts music and messages to the Kitchen, also fails to attach any explanation or add any value to the story.

The movie ends with a vague and unsatisfying conclusion, that leaves many questions unanswered and many conflicts unresolved. The movie does not explain what happens to the Kitchen, or to Izi and Benji, or to the other characters we met along the way. The movie does not offer any message or lesson, or any reason to watch it in the first place. It is a poorly executed and poorly written movie, that does not deliver on any of the promises it makes. It is not a sci-fi movie, nor a drama movie, nor a good movie. It is a waste of time and money, and a disappointment to anyone who expects more from cinema.

I doubt that anybody who is not a friend of the production will give this movie anything over a '5'. I am giving this a '4' as I was tempted to stop watching it several times throughout, and I'm sure you will too.

It is difficult to describe just how bad a movie can be...this one in particular is pretty bad...

In a strange attempt to port US racial issues to the UK it fails on almost every count. Poor direction, poor script and very bad acting...all of which might be over-looked if the end film was engaging at all...it isn't. It almost feels like watching a trailer for an hour and a half.

It isn't the worst film I've ever seen. Just what you expect from a modern movie...Boring plot. Boring characters etc.

I give it 5 out of 10 because there is some production value...totally wasted but it is there nonetheless.

The Kitchen is a black ghetto in a dystopian near-future London. Izi works in a futurist funeral home where the dead are turned into plant food. Each family is given a plant which will be used in reforesting. Benji is a 12 year old saying goodbye to his mother. Izi recognizes her and stops to attend the funeral. With no family left, Benji believes that Izi is his long absent father, but Izi insists that he's not.

This sets up an interesting world and an interesting budding relationship. It does leave me a little cold. It's a bit too slow. I want the plot to do more. It's a debut indie for many involved. I see potential in these actors and filmmakers.

The acting is incredible, the directing is brilliant, the cinematography is gorgeous. It has been well written and well executed. It's pretty obvious how we have got to this 'dystopian future', so I don't agree with other reviews that this was lacking from the film. In fact, it's more of a reflection of modern society, and says a lot about the world we already live in, today - not so much dystopian at all. There are people living in London today with lives similar to those depicted in this film; waiting for people to come and pull them from their homes, powerless, but finding solidarity in community. Rampant capitalism, large corporations exploiting and disregarding the poor. So many stories are being told, by following the story of Izi and Benji. It's really a beautiful piece of cinema, that manages to say a lot about life.

However, it is a slow film. It's a thoughtful film. I think it will be lost on some people, whose expectations of a Kano and Daniel Kaluuya film will not be met. I think, in some parts, it was too slow - but at the same time, not a scene was wasted, A strange ambivalence to it, as it is, at the end, the sum of its parts.