Dystopian drama an interesting disappointment

Written by Daniel Kaluuya (who won a best supporting actor for Judas and the Black Messiah) and Joe Murtagh, it's the feature directing debut of Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares.

Sadly, two heads were not better than one in either role: the film is an interesting disappointment.

It's a dystopian drama set in London in the near future where the gap between rich and poor has become even more pronounced.

Public housing buildings have mostly been demolished, replaced by luxury apartments for the wealthy.

"The Kitchen" is a big, run-down complex full of poor people - mostly black and brown - that's holding out against the government and developers. It gets its name from the banging on pots the residents use to warn of regular, violent police raids (why didn't they do one decisive attack long ago?)

Despite the incursions and privations such as intermittent water supplies, the Kitchen remains a thriving, if desperate, community of squatters, with self-appointed "Lord Kitchener" Ian Wright broadcasting music, news and morale-boosting exhortations from a pirate radio station in his flat.

Izi (Kane Robinson), one of the residents, works as a salesman at Life After Life, a company that transforms the impoverished dead into compost for trees that are displayed with the deceased's name for a period before disappearing. He's emotionally numbed by the job and by life in the Kitchen, hoping to save enough money to buy his own apartment.

Another resident, orphan Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) has recently seen his mother become tree food. He and Izi meet and there's a hint that they might be father and son. Izi is reluctant, at first, to come out of his self-imposed isolation and the boy is drawn to the bike gang led by Staples (Hope Ikpoku Jr), which would place him in even more danger.

This a frustrating film. The actors are good, the world building is impressive and the social commentary is sharp. But the very slow pace and repetitiveness work against it and too often it feels as emotionally distant as Izi forces himself to be.