It is brilliant and right that the London Film Festival’s closing gala is the world premiere of a film set in London. A film that is the directorial debut of London’s current best actor, Daniel Kaluuya, already of course an Oscar winner (co-directing with another London-born filmmaker Kibwe Tavares). And a film that puts one of London’s most exciting TV stars – Kane ‘Kano’ Robinson – front and centre. There is even a small role for a bona fide London institution, with Ian Wright popping up as a sort of town crier-slash-DJ. Pretty much everyone involved in this film likely grew up within a couple of tube stops of the set, which you don’t get in Cannes or Venice or even Toronto.
So it would be wonderful to report that The Kitchen is a masterpiece. But that would not be true.
