The Kitchen: 3 stars
A vivid portrait of an urban dystopia, âThe Kitchen,â now streaming on Netflix, is sci-fi that sets up a troubling vision of the future, while finding room to emphasize the humanity at the core of the story.
Set in the near future, the story takes place in a dystopian, âBlade Runner-esqueâ London. The divide between the 1% and everybody else has widened, with the effects of rising home prices, an AI workforce and a dismantled Welfare State turning the city into a playground for the rich, with no regard for people living in poverty.
The last remaining block of social housing, The Kitchen, is a dilapidated set of North London towers and home to hundreds of Black and brown residents. Scheduled to be demolished by the authoritarian government, its inhabitants live in constant fear of their power and water being shut off, or worse, being evicted in a violent police raid.
Izi (Kane Robinson), a funeral home worker whose company, Life After Life, composts the bodies of those who cannot afford a traditional burial, lives in The Kitchen, but has no plans of waiting around to be forced out of his home. Tired of lining up at the communal shower, and uncertainty of life at the crumbling estate, he has an eye on getting out. Saving his cash, he hopes to move into Buena Vida, a glitzy new development far away from The Kitchen.
His life is changed when he meets Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), a youngster left to his own devices in the wake of his motherâs death. Izi knew the mother, and may, or may not, be the boyâs father. After a rough start, the two bond as Izi offers him a place to stay and steers him away from bad influences that live with the housing project.
As the two become close, Izi asks Benji to move in with him at Buena Vida, but doing so means he will have to reapply for a double occupancy apartment. That means waiting, and spending even more time wrapped in the uncertain embrace of The Kitchen.
âThe Kitchen,â written by Daniel Kaluuya (the actor best known for âGet Out,â âBlack Pantherâ and âJudas & The Black Messiahâ) and Joe Murtagh, and directed by Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, is set in 2040, but feels vital and timely. In an increasingly besieged world, the gap between rich and poor, the breakdown of community and the pressure marginalized communities feel under the thumb of an authoritarian state, as presented in the film, doesnât feel like sci-fi. It feels more like a humanistic portrait of a community under fire.
Itâs not all doom and gloom. The co-directors inject moments of joy with scenes set in a roller disco and a pirate radio voice named Lord Kitchener, played by former Arsenal-and-England footballer Ian Wright, who maintains morale in The Kitchen with music and spiritual advice.
Ultimately, for all its elaborate world building, âThe Kitchenâ is a personal story. Like most speculative fiction, the background sets the scene, but the meat of the story is anything but speculative. In this case, it is a father and son story that details the pressure and responsibility Izi feels to do the right thing for himself and Benji.
Robinson is effective in portraying Iziâs worldview. The character is aspirational but tethered to his reality, made more complicated by his relationship with Benji. Itâs the storyline that grounds the film, and provides the most interesting moments.
âThe Kitchenâ brims with ideas, but they are sometimes muted by an episodic presentation. Kaluuya and company juggle a great many storylines, but the film works best when it gets up close and personal with Izi and Benji.
Going In: 3 stars
âGoing In,â a gritty new crime drama now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple/iTunes and cable video on demand, is a stylistic homage to the buddy movies of the 1980s that rides the line between parody and tribute.
Set in Toronto, in a time before sky scrapers dominated the downtown, writer and director Evan Rissi plays philosophy professor Leslie Boothe, a dullish, straight-edge type, more interested in Jean Paul Sartre than booze, drugs or partying.
âYou come to realize that coming into being is the same as turning into nothing,â he lectures to his students, âthat being and nothing unite as becoming.â
âYeah,â says a smart aleck student, âbecoming⌠bored.â
His wild child history, however, is revealed when Reuben Goldstein (Ira Goldman), a face from the past, appears. Once best friends, the two havenât seen one another in five years, ever since Boothe got sober and started going to bed before 10 p.m.
âI need to talk to you,â says Goldstein. âMeet me tonight at the bar. You know the one.â
Boothe made a promise years ago to help Goldstein whenever he needed it, and now Goldstein has come to collect. Seems his kid brother Saul has been working for a drug lord named Feng (Victor D.S. Man) selling a nasty new drug called Pearl.
News reports say the highly addictive drug has turned the city upside down, and is âeven more dangerous than originally anticipated.â It gives uses a fifteen-minute out-of-body experience or âO.B.E for shortâ that turns them into a zombie-like state with white, glassy eyes.
Saul has disappeared and Goldstein needs help to find him. The police canât do anything, Feng is too powerful, and the security around him is airtight. The only way they can get access is through an underground tournament the criminal hosts every six months. âItâs a mysterious competition,â says Goldstein. âNo one knows what the challenge is till they begin. You have to prepare for anything. If you come with me, we have a better chance.â
A man of his word, Boothe reluctantly agrees to help, and dives into the seedy underbelly of 1980s Toronto.
âGoing Inâ is a low-budget, yet loving throwback to 1980s film stereotypes. The soundtrack drips with a synth score, there are underground nightclubs, mismatched buddies à la âLethal Weaponâ and âSilver Streak,â a work-out montage, a subway shootout, clothes borrowed from Sonny Crockettâs closet, a villain who cackles âYou came here for your brother? No! You came here to die!â and even motorcycle ninjas.
Rissi pays tribute, but itâs not really tongue-in-cheek. The references are there, should you be keeping track, but theyâre accompanied by a pretty good story, one with stakes and forward momentum.
The situation is extremeâparticularly when we get to the high-stakes competitionâbut thatâs part of the appeal. The party trick Rissi manages here is riding the line between satire and straight-faced storytelling. It works, even if the action scenes are scarce and hindered by the filmâs shoestring $80,000 budget. Nonetheless, âGoing Inâ has a DIY charm, that feels born out of a genuine love of the films that inspired it.
The Intergrity of Joseph Chambers: 3 stars
The suspenseful âThe Integrity of Joseph Chambers,â is a dark twist on the âGreen Acresâ idea of leaving the city behind for a quiet life in the country.
Clayne Crawford plays Joseph Chambers, an insurance salesman tired of the hustle and bustle of big business and big city life. Relocating, with his two kids, to his wife Tessâs (Jordana Brewster) hometown of Pell City in rural Alabama, he embraces country life. The chores. The fresh air. Good bye city life.
When he gets it in his head to go hunting, solo, in the nearby woods, Tess tries to talk him out of it. They have enough money for groceries, she argues, and anyway, he doesnât know how to shoot and doesnât own a gun. But old Joe has already trimmed his beard, leaving behind a patch under his nose he dubs his âhunterâs moustache.â
He wants to fit in, prove his manliness, but more importantly, wants to be able to provide for his family if and when the world falls apart. âIf things get worse,â he says, âwe may need to know how to do this stuff.â
With ideas of doomsday clouding his mind, he borrows a gun and a truck, slips into his hunting gear, including an orange puffer vest, and heads out. Hours later, when he finally spots a deer, he reacts quickly and fires. His bullet finds its target, but itâs not a deer, itâs another hunter.
The story burns slowly, setting up Joseph as a decent but naïve suburbanite desperate to prove his macho bona fides. He brims with bravadoâquoting old Westerns like âThe Outlaw Josey Walesâ and imagining crowds cheering for him on his quest for a 10-point buckâbut those affectations are a cover for a deep core of insecurity. The quest here isnât really for a buck, itâs actually a search for masculinity.
Joseph feels he has much to prove to himself and his family, so âThe Integrity of Joseph Chambersâ isnât really the story of the fatal shot, but of his reaction to it. Questions of responsibility vs. consequences flood his mind as the open expanse of the forest envelopes him.
Danish sound designer Peter Albrechtsen embellishes these scenes with unsettling sounds that sonically give life to Josephâs inner feelings.
Crawford occupies the vast bulk of the movie, and holds focus. His take on Joseph is equal parts ridiculousâhe playfully sings âIâm the moustache man!ââand repentant. Itâs a raw-edged performance, aided in its grittiness by screenwriter and director Robert Machoianâs refusal to offer easy answers.
âThe Integrity of Joseph Chambersâ isnât an easy film to digest. It is very slow and a bit repetitive. It asks more questions than it answers and will likely frustrate those wanting a pat ending, but it raises interesting questions about the real meaning of masculinity.