Daniel Kaluuya’s ‘The Kitchen’ trailer explores dystopian London

The upcoming film drops on Netflix in early 2024.

Dec 19, 2023

Daniel Kaluuya’s directorial debut is here. The Academy Award winner’s film “The Kitchen” is heading to Netflix next year and the streamer just dropped the first trailer for the dystopian flick.

Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman in “The Kitchen” — Kane Robinson as Izi and Jedaiah Bannerman as Benji in “The Kitchen.” (Photo credit: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023)

Described as a story of “fatherhood and love for the community,” the film takes viewers into a dystopian London, where the gap between the rich and the poor, “has been stretched to its limits.” With all forms of social housing eradicated from the city, all that remains is The Kitchen, a community that “refuses to move out of the place they call home.”

Enter Izi, who is living in The Kitchen by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and 12-year-old Benji, who is searching for a family after losing his mother. “We follow our unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them,” the synopsis concludes.

Kaluuya directs alongside filmmaker Kibwe Tavares, with a script by the “Get Out” star and Joe Murtagh. Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman star as Izi and Benji, alongside Hope Ikpoku Jr., Ian Wright, BackRoad Gee, Cristale, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo.

Speaking to Rolling Stone UK earlier this year, Kaluuya opened up about the film. “I feel like every city has a ‘Kitchen,’ and I think because of the history of London and the Blitz, it’s more pronounced,” he explained. “We were bombed, and we survived. There are still traces of that within our being, but the class system dims us, so [with this film], I’m like, ‘Take the light and shine!’”

“The Kitchen” hits Netflix on Jan.19, 2024.