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KItchen Sink Realism
Explore our promotion celebrating the finest of Kitchen Sink Realism, featuring generous price markdowns on DVD and Blu-ray!

In the wake of post-war Britain, an artistic revolution emerged, giving rise to what would be termed Kitchen Sink Realism. This movement’s cinematic facet became renowned as Kitchen Sink Cinema or the British New Wave. Emboldened by a fervent desire to mirror the stark realities of working-class existence, filmmakers like Tony Richardson dared to peel back the layers of societal veneer. Their canvases were not embellished with the gloss of Hollywood glamour, but rather etched with the gritty truths of everyday life—poverty, unemployment, and the suffocating confines of societal norms. Grounded in a naturalistic aesthetic, the films pulsated with the rhythms of authenticity, employing real locations and unvarnished dialogue. Though the British New Wave ebbed relatively swiftly, its resonance endured, challenging the status quo and inspiring future generations of filmmakers to confront the unvarnished truths of class and society. To celebrate our current promotion on Kitchen Sink Cinema, let’s go through 10 of our favourites from the genre…
A Taste of Honey (1961)
Shelagh Delaney’s play A Taste of Honey had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaptation, which was shot on location in Salford and Blackpool. Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo, a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie of a mother – a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff, a gentle, kind-hearted gay man, and they move in together like two children playing house, for a while finding an innocent but fragile happiness. Richardson, always skilled with actors, draws fine performances from his entire cast, and A Taste of Honey remains an outstanding example of the British New Wave, shot by its star cinematographer Walter Lassally.
Look Back in Anger (1959)
Captured through the lens of the esteemed Oswald Morris, the film commences with a mesmerizing scene unfolding in a jazz club. Trumpeter Jimmy Porter (Burton), a disillusioned, educated individual, wages a relentless battle against the Establishment, laboring by day at a sweet stall in the market. His downtrodden, middle-class wife bears the brunt of his tirades, yet when he seeks solace in an affair with her best friend, it unleashes untold misery upon all who know him. Tony Richardson’s inaugural feature serves as the quintessence of the kitchen-sink drama, birthing a new wave of British social protest films and heralding the advent of the liberated swinging sixties. Apt for contemporary times and retaining its disquieting allure, this narrative remains as uncomfortably compelling as ever.
Room at the top (1959)
In post-war industrial Yorkshire, social climber Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) endeavors to win the boss’s daughter’s affections as he ambitiously strives for professional success. Yet, his humble working-class origins become formidable barriers impeding his ascent, leading him to find solace in an illicit affair with Alice (Simone Signoret), a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage—a dalliance fraught with dire consequences. Directed by Jack Clayton, the film offers a nuanced exploration of sexuality and class dynamics, unfolding against the backdrop of post-war Britain. Recognised with two Academy Awards, including a well-deserved Best Actress accolade for Signoret’s captivating portrayal and the prestigious Best Adapted Screenplay honor, the film crystallises the era’s societal tensions and personal dilemmas with unflinching honesty, cementing its place as an enduring classic in the annals of cinematic history.
The L-Shaped Room (1962)
The L-Shaped Room attracted international acclaim for its star Leslie Caron who was awarded both a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her portrayal of Jane. A young French woman pregnant with an illegitimate child, Jane arrives at a dingy Notting Hill lodgings to have her child in secret, but finds love and friendship among the assortment of outsiders living in the boarding house – all brought to life by Forbes’ sensitive ear for dialogue. In addition to the especially moving Cicely Courtneidge as a faded music hall star growing old alone and Pat Phoenix’s portrayal of a tart with a heart, Toby, a struggling young writer on the first floor who Jane falls for and Johnny, a black jazzman rejected for more than his colour. Ever since Hitchcock’s The Lodger, the London boarding house has proved an evocative location through which to explore the underside of British society and The L-Shaped Room’s sensitive study of social morals at the dawning of the Sixties sexual revolution, is no exception.
