The Kitchen: Near future dystopia set in London, all social housing has been eliminated. The one hold out is The Kitchen, an estate where people practice mutual aid for the most part. The police keep The Kitchen under constant drone surveillance and launch frequent raids with armoured personnel carriers, tannoys blaring: "You are trespassing on private property", The residents have barricaded their flats but those caught outside are batoned and arrested, their flats thrashed. Some are even beaten to death. Some want to fight back, others want to escape to private housing. A realistic enough story line, with well staged scenes of brutality and resistance. The street markets are reminiscent of Blade Runner with the cultural mix and holographic ads. There is also touches of Soylent Green, La Haine; and Do The Right Thing with a DJ going by the moniker Lord Kitchener. The narrative centres on a father/teen son relationship complicated by the fact that they only meet up at the funeral of the boy's mother. It does drag a bit at times and would have been a better film at 90 minutes rather than its 108 minute running time, Still, it's a good SF Thriller. Directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya from a screenplay by Kaluuya and Joe Murtagh. On Netflix. 7/10.
