For All Its Bold Statements, ‘The Kitchen’ Rates Low Commercially

Adesegun Ade-Martins

The Kitchen, directed by Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares and with a script written by Daniel Kaluuya, Joe Murtaugh, and Amy Baty, reminds us of an old school sci-fi laced with a strong statement but that’s where the magic stops. 

The movie follows Izi (Kano), a resident of a slum in a not-too-distant future London. 

Izi works at a funeral home that uses the cremated remains of people as compost for plants. Izi sees Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), a teenager, say goodbye to his deceased mother at the same funeral home. Benji latches on to Izi, as he has no other guardian or a place to live. Thus, drama ensues.

The film’s protagonist is surprisingly not Izzi or Benji; it’s the Kitchen, the place. And that explains the copious shots of the Kitchen, scanning its architecture and activities. The Kitchen is prized land, and its occupants face a daily eviction notice. Former footballer and pundit Ian Wright plays the Kitchen’s DJ. He is a crucial part of the film because his voice resonates throughout the housing complex to comfort the occupants during and after police raids enforcing the eviction. The occupants are the poor people of London in this dystopian future. Most of these poor people are black. 

Disclaimer

First, I am a black man from Nigeria, born and raised in Nigeria. Although I would say I have western (Brit/Canadian/American) sensibilities through and through, My point of view has been predominantly colonised, unfortunately. 

However, I am trying to “unlearn” by consuming and inculcating Neo-African sensibilities. Modern pan-Africanism is a real thing born out of an awakening in Africans to have an original (non-western and non-eastern) philosophy and find a path to a new consciousness.

I’m also aware modern pan-Africanism cannot be discussed without colonialist or western ideas. 

What I feel

While watching, I felt underwhelmed by this film, and I have been able to pinpoint exactly what it is.

Why are “black” movies predominantly about struggle? 

 Either “we” are surviving the collective abuse of 19th-century transatlantic slavery, facing the effects of criminal activities in the present, or living in economic squalor in the future.  

Black people need a break! If it’s not those subject matters, then it’s some screwball comedy with still quite traumatic conditions surrounding it. Shouldn’t we be yearning for some wholesome stories? Not forced, but surely there have to be some real stories around that we can tap into.

 I’m not even saying that we shouldn’t make films like these, but can we have a balanced mix of the “good, the bad, and the ugly,” subject matter-wise? 

Just like there might be widespread superhero movie fatigue, I have fatigue for the portrayal of black people suffering immensely. 

I want stories of black people going through challenges like every other person but not going through their circumstances because they are black. 

 These alternatives are real things for every community, including black Africa and the diaspora. 

I also understand and am aware that negative stories also exist in larger percentages, but films should not only be reality-based. They can and should be aspirational as well. 

Let’s briefly look at Pixar’s Soul, which stars Jamie Foxx as a music teacher (who happens to be a black man) at a high school who gets a shot at his dream job, being a pianist in a jazz band of repute. 

Just after the first rehearsal, he dies. His dilemma concerns accepting death or finding a way back to his jazz life in a bureaucratic afterlife construct.

 The struggle in Soul is about following your dreams; there is no statement about his blackness and the struggles that may come with that. I think black people need more stories like these in addition to the usual. 

These stories exist—Pixar’s Soul, Tenet, some Denzel Washington movies, etc.—but we need a lot more. Although it is possible for an anti-black researcher to criticise these examples for not wholly capturing the black experience. 

My response is: Let’s start somewhere and continue to improve. We should live, grow, and analyse our collective culture.

 By the way, this message is not exclusive to the black experience; any culture, race, or creed can benefit from this thinking.

Summary

This film was not for me, but I can appreciate its message. Recent research and projections say, “Black people are more than three times as likely to experience homelessness than all other ethnicities combined,” according to a blackequityorg.com article. 

This is the core of The Kitchen, but I recently learned that making “important” statements in films hampers key elements like narrative and character development. 

In this case, the film suffers from it because we don’t have an enjoyable film but an important statement. I rate it 4 out of 10 as a piece of commercial art. As a statement, well that’s another story.

•Ade-Martins writes from Abuja