January of any year typically serves as a bit of cinematic wasteland, a time when studios dump their projects in the hopes that they’ll generate a quick buck or two – and Netflix is no different, as evidence by their latest release, The Kitchen. From trashy genre films to failed Oscar bait, it’s usually difficult to find a worthwhile new release that will stick in the culture past winter. Thankfully, the film, from first-time directors Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, has a number of thoughtful ideas at play that makes it more than just background noise.

The film takes place in a kind of dystopian London, where housing is a privilege that only the rich can afford, and the rest live in a project/ghetto called the Kitchen. Our hero is Izi (Kane Robinson), a single man who has lived within the Kitchen for years and knows the ins and outs of daily life. Of course, he doesn’t love it there, with the water limitations and constant government surveillance. Though he’s ever-so-close to moving into a swanky apartment, he does have a begrudging fondness for the place.

Izi works at a new-age funeral home, where the deceased are placed in pots of soil to feed trees. What’s most promising about The Kitchen is that, like all great sci-fi, it uses ideas that are already happening in today’s world and twists them into a pseudo-futuristic landscape. Every time Kaluuya and Tavares return to the crowded street-level market of the Kitchen, it’s easy to see parallels to Blade Runner and District 9, and the film is filled with other details that show a fully formed world. There’s even a charismatic radio DJ that calls to mind Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Do the Right Thing. Kaluuya, who wrote the script with Joe Murtagh, uses the film to touch on socio-political issues like police surveillance and income inequality. But these topics take a bit of a back seat throughout the middle third of the film, when the directors simply coast on the vibes of the shared space.

The Kitchen becomes a bit of a character study once it introduces Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), an orphaned teen whose mother Izi knew. Benji stays with Izi, but begins to fall into the wrong crowd of older kids who provoke trouble and ride on motorcycles. The narrative slows down considerably once the film focuses on Benji and Izi’s relationship, as Benji tries to choose which life he wants to live. Yes, Izi offers stability and a way out, but Benji’s newfound friends provoke that teenage yearning for adventure. And they’re more willing to stand up against the oppression they’re living in, whereas Izi simply wants to keep his head down and get through the day.

For all its promise, The Kitchen likely won’t survive the Netflix algorithm once bigger and flashier titles premiere. While I’ll rarely advocate for films to be pushed beyond their limits, I could see a world where The Kitchen is more successful as a limited series, as it would allow more space to fully develop its ideas and characters. As it stands though, the film serves as an intriguing start to a directorial career for Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares as they show they’re more than capable at world-building and capturing action. I just can’t help but wish that everything else within it was more compelling.

The Kitchen will premiere on Netflix on January 19.

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