Starring Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman, The Kitchen is an exceptional story of two people trying to live in a world that no longer cares about human souls. This 107-minute-long film is the directional debut of award-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya and filmmaker Kibwe Tavares.
The Kitchen 2024 takes place in a bleak dystopian future where the gap between the well-off and the poor is wider than ever before. To make living in such an expensive place possible, the lower side of society ends up living in a huge settlement called “The Kitchen”.
The residents of the kitchen, including our main character Izi, struggle to live in the community and often have to face raids and other brutal treatments from the police. Kane Robinson plays the role of Izi, while Jedaiah Bannerman portrays Benji.
Besides them, the cast of The Kitchen consists of Teija Kabs as Ruby, Demmy Ladipo plays Jase, Cristale plays Lianne, Backroad Gee stars as Kamale and Rasaq Kukoyi plays Arinze. The Kibwe Tavares film has so far gained popularity, owing to its perfect mix of emotional elements with an end-of-the-world atmosphere.
The Kitchen: What Happens In The Movie?
The film starts with Izi going through a normal day at the housing community called “The Kitchen”, where a preacher keeps everyone’s days positive by talking about God and blessings over the mic. The Lord Kitchener plays a huge role in alerting the members of any upcoming raids as well.
For Izi, the raids are just another part of his schedule, following which he goes to work like a normal person. Izi happens to work at a funeral service, called Life After Life. Here, people who aren’t able to afford a funeral can turn their loved ones into trees that the company later transports to other places.
Izi and his friend are working at Life After Life one day and he happens to notice a young boy standing all alone near the tree. Turns out, Izi knows the kid’s mother and watches him closely as he bids farewell to his mom. The kid, whose name’s Benji, spots Izi and follows him around.
Izi is annoyed at first but later warms up to him. Benji asks Izi if he is his father, but Izi denies it saying he just happened to know his mother for a short time. With his only surviving family gone, Benji had nowhere to go. He tries to ask Izi if he can tag along, but Izi tells him to go home alone.
However, seeing how sad Benji is, Izi gives a fun ride to him on his bike. The next day, Benji uses his birthday gift cycle to come to The Kitchen. He mixes in with the bad guys, but Benji spots him and lets him come to his home.
They barely escape a raid, showing Benji how tough it is to live in such a place. Benji somehow convinces Izi to let him stay in his room for at least two days. During this time, the two get to know each other better and Benji also makes new friends.
What troubled Izi was the fact that he had already applied to shift into a new home, which was going to be much safer and legal than The Kitchen. The guilt of leaving all of kitcheners behind in the mess was building up, but now that he was taking care of Benji too, things started to mess with Izi’s head. Izi just straight up leaves Benji without saying anything and tries to start a new life at the apartments.
Ending Explained
By the end, Benji realizes that Izi has left him and runs away to his old home all sad and heartbroken. Benji comes back to meet one of his friends, but The Kitchen is attacked by another intense raid, which ends up killing many of the residents of the house, including Lord Kitchener.
Izi sees Lord Kitchener at his funeral service work and decides to check up on Benji. He eventually finds him all cornered and alone at his mother’s home. Benji’s mad at Izi for leaving him this way, but eventually breaks down in tears seeing that he came back for him.
Both of them go back to The Kitchen, and Benji asks Izi if he could be his father. Izi doesn’t say anything and just nods, showing that he isn’t sure but there is a chance that it could be true. Regardless of whether they were related, Izi knew he was going to take care of Benji just like his father. Izi holds Benji close as the police knock on their room in The Kitchen.
Netflix’s The Kitchen ends in an sad yet heartwarming tone, with Benji and Izi deciding to stay together through the chaos of this dystopian world. Izi’s father-son dynamic with Benji was portrayed in the most realistic & impactful way possible.
Izi wasn’t the kind of man who cared about anyone other than himself, but it was apparent early on that he did feel somewhat guilty for leaving others behind at The Kitchen.
Meeting Benji might’ve been a coincidence, but it was necessary to help Izi realize what kind of person he truly was. The ending of The Kitchen is left ambiguous, as it’s up to us to imagine what would’ve become of these two souls who are more alike and dependent on each other than they first assumed.
With Kaluuya’s bleak cinematography style, the vibrant neon signs, and the constant banging of Kitchen utensils to warn other Kitcheners of an upcoming raid, The Kitchen is nothing less than a perfect tale of a cold future that’s far, far away from Utopia.
The Kitchen is now available to stream on Netflix globally.
