The Keeping Room (2014) Reviews

• Seek This One Out

  movie-op2014-09-19

  The American Civil War is a time period that's been told almost exclusively from the male perspective and has most often centered on Northerners (winners do write history), so to see a story about southern women enduring the brutality of the war's end is rather surprising. What makes it satisfying, and a truly excellent film, is how sharp the storytelling is. Writer Julia Hart uses the small story of three women, two sisters (Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld) and their young slave (Muna Otaru), to capture the massive effects the war had on the southern way of life, but never hits you over the head with its larger themes. Instead, it tells its story almost as a home- invasion thriller, with a slow-burning sense of dread filling every ounce of the runtime. Bleak, tense, and at times difficult to watch, The Keeping Room isn't fun, but you'll be happy you saw it.

• Survival of the fittest

  hossein-dashtaki2016-01-26

  I am surprised to see that some people do not like this movie. May be they did not get the message this movie is sending. First , this movie wants to give you the sense of the violence and rampage that some stray Union soldiers conducted during the U.S. civil war which has seldom been reported in history. Second , it wants to show you the hardship and misery of those days' women who were left alone , to live and survive by themselves , when their husbands left for war. Third , it wants to convey this message to women , based on movie's currents of events , that , if they are united, resilient and determine, they then can overcome and survive the worst threats. Fourth , it tells women that they must learn everything they need to learn to defend themselves , that is , how to fight , how to shoot , how to plan against intruders and how to rely on themselves to survive. It tells them how to believe in themselves in that they can overcome dangerous situations during the coarse of their lives. I believe the director and scenario writer have done a superb job in conveying this message to its viewers.

• Watch It

  briannapino2016-12-27

  I like this movie and i'm surprised some feel differently towards it. It was cool to see the war coming from a woman's perspective and show the horrors of the woman trying to defend their home and themselves. It showed how at the end of the Civil War that it was violent and it also showed women didn't have much respect. We noticed that it showed not only the woman's perspective but the man's as well. Many could say they view this movie differently but I viewed it as showing how strong women were in this time period and to show the destruction the Civil War caused. I personally recommend this movie for learning purposes as well as to get an insight on the different perspectives of the Civil War.

• Woman's survival movie

  rockenkay2015-12-07

  I liked this movie a lot.. I love Civil war movies and this one is different from most as it's about the women.. It's the ending of the Civil war, a violent time to be outside of Atlanta just before being burned.. Three women struggling to survive on the left overs of a depleted countryside, get caught in the violence of two insane soldiers. Most important is the way the women overcome .. This is an intelligent and insightful script, written by Julia Hart.. The plot builds in momentum fairly fast but if you're looking for a man's fight and/or special effects,, this isn't that movie.. It's about strength in the face of fear and making choices that will save all three of their lives.. There's violence and exploitation but the director did not exploit our actresses and I'm really glad that, for once, the actress isn't demanded to strip during a rape scene.. (creating a double abuse,, I hate those directors that do that).. If you liked the pace of The Missing with Kate Blanchett or The Claim with Milla Jovovich, it's similar enough that you'd like this..

• A finely acted although agonizingly slow home invasion in wild west

  quincytheodore2015-12-10

  There's a merit on doing all female leads drama thriller set on volatile era of Civil War, especially when there's social prejudice involved. However, aside from some admittedly fine performance, the movie feels clunky and slow. It doesn't have the intricacy or characterization beyond the basic formula of "there are bad men coming", and even that takes the film about half its runtime to get the pace going. This is the story of three women, one of whom is colored, as they defend their home from outsiders. Each woman might not be easily relatable at first, but the acting as well as decent investment time to them manage to deliver a few heavy thought provoking and intimate scenes. Brit Marling as the oldest one keeps a strong presence even though her character may be lacking in term of actual strength. Muna Otaru as Mad, the colored housekeeper or technical maid, has a unique personality as the caretaker of the girls and also her own woman. As for the antagonist Sam Worthington makes do, he's decent but his motivation doesn't have the same focus as the girls', which means less connection to the character as he basically stumbles on the predicament he himself creates. The cinematography works by keeping an intentionally bleak and less stylish version of Wild West. This is a deliberate pace for drama, not action or thriller. It does feel terribly slow at times, not in a good Tarantino build up style. Furthermore, there's not much cat-and-mouse cerebral standoff, which feels like a missed opportunity, especially when it could've used the setting as intense backdrop. Panic Room with Jodie Foster had trade of wit between protagonist and antagonist that created depth and utilized its premise, while here it's more of random gunslinging action. The Keeping Room has a couple of good performances, especially geared towards heavy themes such as race prejudice and violence towards women. However, instead of putting more focus on home invasion to elevate the drama, its slow pace removes any thrill to what could've been a powerful commentary of an era and its lingering issues.