Is The Kitchen based on a true story?

Daniel Kaluuya’s directorial debut hits Netflix this week – but is The Kitchen based on a true story? Here’s what you need to know.

We might know him best from appearances in horror movie Get Out and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but now it’s Daniel Kaluuya’s turn to try his hand in the chair behind the camera.

Along with Time Machine director Kibwe Tavares, Kaluuya brings fans The Kitchen, first debuting in October 2023 at London Film Festival.

With the movie dropping on Netflix on January 19, is The Kitchen based on a true story? Here’s what we know.

Is The Kitchen based on a true story?

No, The Kitchen isn’t based on a true story – it’s the Melissa McCarthy movie of the same name that has real-life source material.

The movie isn’t based on source material or an adaptation, having been co-written by Rob Hayes, Joe Murtagh, and Daniel Kaluuya.

The Kitchen’s official synopsis reads: “In a dystopian future London where all social housing has been eliminated, Izi (Kane Robinson) and Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) fight to navigate the world as residents of The Kitchen – a community that refuses to abandon their home.”

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Kaluuya said of the movie: “I feel like every city has a ‘Kitchen’, and I think because of the history of London and the Blitz, it’s more pronounced. 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!’

“It’s not a warning. It’s happening!” he continued. “Before the Blitz, this is how London was. That’s what Dickens was talking about — poor against rich, and we’re going back to that.” As an example, Kaluuya highlights how Camden Market has had its soul watered down. “This film explores the idea that what if there was one bit that had the last bit of soul left?”

Is The Kitchen worth watching?

The Kitchen currently has an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 60% audience score.

In our review, we described the movie as “not one to miss out on… The Kitchen is good but just shy of being great. With solid performances, realistic and heart-warming connections, and a stark reminder that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, the nearly-there outcome just stops itself from hitting on something huge.”

Jack Francis from Rolling Stone added: “While it runs you through the gamut of emotions, you’ll end up full of warmth while also unmistakably concerned. It will also leave you pondering one other question: Is there anything Daniel Kaluuya can’t do?”

Katherine McLaughlin from SciFiNow adds: “It’s difficult not to be endeared by what Kaluuya and Tavares have cooked up with The Kitchen as a film that sincerely navigates and mourns those special, idiosyncratic things that London and in turn society and humanity is losing in the name of greed.”