Channeling aspects of both science fiction and horror, Kitchen Sink is a provocative yet minimal short fiction film. The narrative begins simply with an everyday chore in an average setting which escalates into a dramatic day very quickly. This blandness is enhanced by being filmed in black and white, which then transitions into being suspenseful/mysterious, supporting the narrative throughout the film.
As a woman pulls an umbilical-like strand from her kitchen drain, the suburban dream is shattered into nightmarish proportions. While she was once intrigued and interested by what was hidden beneath, when she sees the alien fetus emerge she is frightened and disposes of it. It appears as if this opening implies the deterioration of suburbia or repression of abnormality.
The woman's fear however is not long lived. The fetus grows into a man, indicative of the natural cycle of life (despite him being "alien") from the womb into the world. Her disposition is altered by his nonthreatening presence. The woman's loneliness may be exemplified here by her eagerness to form an attachment to something abnormal to her. Yet, the woman exhibits a motherly attachment to the man rather than a sexual one. At first their relationship may appear sexual seeing as they are alone together and sleeping on her bed. Her tenderness comes across as she tends to him, instead. It isn't until she falls into her repressed desire when they embrace that her world becomes threatened for acting on her feelings that can be interpreted as incestuous, or against societal norms.
The film's ending can also be interpreted as a commentary on perfection. The woman chooses to shave him completely of his hair to make him appear more normal. This allows her to become more comfortable with his presence. She rejected his existence once because he was far from being human. Shaving his hair not only allowed her to mother his metamorphosis into a human/man, but it also allowed her to fulfill a fantasy that was previously denied. In the end she attempts to pluck out his last piece of self from his neck, which ends in either his and her destruction or the beginning of a new cycle similar to his emergence from the sink drain.
As a woman pulls an umbilical-like strand from her kitchen drain, the suburban dream is shattered into nightmarish proportions. While she was once intrigued and interested by what was hidden beneath, when she sees the alien fetus emerge she is frightened and disposes of it. It appears as if this opening implies the deterioration of suburbia or repression of abnormality.
The woman's fear however is not long lived. The fetus grows into a man, indicative of the natural cycle of life (despite him being "alien") from the womb into the world. Her disposition is altered by his nonthreatening presence. The woman's loneliness may be exemplified here by her eagerness to form an attachment to something abnormal to her. Yet, the woman exhibits a motherly attachment to the man rather than a sexual one. At first their relationship may appear sexual seeing as they are alone together and sleeping on her bed. Her tenderness comes across as she tends to him, instead. It isn't until she falls into her repressed desire when they embrace that her world becomes threatened for acting on her feelings that can be interpreted as incestuous, or against societal norms.
The film's ending can also be interpreted as a commentary on perfection. The woman chooses to shave him completely of his hair to make him appear more normal. This allows her to become more comfortable with his presence. She rejected his existence once because he was far from being human. Shaving his hair not only allowed her to mother his metamorphosis into a human/man, but it also allowed her to fulfill a fantasy that was previously denied. In the end she attempts to pluck out his last piece of self from his neck, which ends in either his and her destruction or the beginning of a new cycle similar to his emergence from the sink drain.