''The Keeping Room'' is a 2014 American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film directed by
Daniel Barber and written by
Julia Hart
Julia Hart (born April 7, 1982) is an American filmmaker and actress. She is known for writing and directing the comedy drama ''Miss Stevens'' (2016), the superhero drama ''Fast Color'' (2018), the musical romance '' Stargirl'' (2020), and the ...
. The film stars
Brit Marling
Brit Heyworth Marling (born August 7, 1982) is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including ''Sound of My Voice'' (2011), ''Another Earth'' ...
,
Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...
,
Muna Otaru
Maimuna "Muna" Otaru is a Liverpool-born British actress known for her role as Mad in the film ''The Keeping Room
''The Keeping Room'' is a 2014 American Western film directed by Daniel Barber and written by Julia Hart. The film stars Brit ...
,
Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Jake Sully in ''Avatar'' and its sequel, ''Avatar: The Way of Water''; Marcus Wright in ''Terminator Salvation'', and Perseus in '' Clash o ...
,
Amy Nuttall
Amy Abigail Nuttall (born 7 June 1982) is an English actress and singer known for playing Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2000 until 2005, and housemaid Ethel Parks in ITV period drama ''Downton Abbey''.
Early life
Nutt ...
, and
Ned Dennehy
Ned Dennehy (born 8 December 1965) is an Irish actor who has appeared in multiple films and television programmes. He is best known for his role as Mider in ''The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog''. He also appeared in ''Blitz'', ''Harry Potter and t ...
. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...
.
The film was given a
limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on September 25, 2015, by
Drafthouse Films.
[ The film was made available on Netflix US on May 4, 2016.
]
Plot
Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, three Southern women - two white sisters, Augusta and Louise, and one African-American slave, Mad - must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army. Augusta, the elder sister goes in search of medicine for her sister, Louise; who has been bitten by a raccoon. She stops off at a neighbor's house but finds the neighbor dead, having drunk a bottle of poison. She then goes to a bar, where she is told to leave by the barman. It is there that Augusta encounters Moses and Henry, soldiers from the army.
Late that night, Augusta, Louise and Mad hear noises from outside. It is revealed to be Moses and Henry and an intense shootout ensues. Henry rapes Louise and is shot dead by Mad, and Augusta injures Moses, but does not kill him. The three girls then go back to the kitchen and Mad reveals how she was raped often as a child.
A clatter outside makes Augusta and Mad investigate with guns; the culprit is found to be Bill, Mad's lover, who is then accidentally shot dead by Augusta. Before dying, he tells Mad "they're coming". In the morning, the girls realize that Moses is still alive and search the house. When they eventually find him, he tells Augusta he is a "bummer" (soldiers sent in advance to forage for food and find any deserters or survivors) for the army. Seriously wounded, Moses warns Augusta that " Billy's coming, burning down everything in his path. Rest assured, it will be cruel". Augusta shoots him dead. The girls bury the bodies and debate whether they will stay and fight for their house. They eventually decide they will dress up as men, using the clothing from the dead soldiers. They set the house on fire and the last shot shows the girls walking into the distance, the army just catching up to their house.
Cast
*Brit Marling
Brit Heyworth Marling (born August 7, 1982) is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including ''Sound of My Voice'' (2011), ''Another Earth'' ...
as Augusta
*Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...
as Louise
*Muna Otaru
Maimuna "Muna" Otaru is a Liverpool-born British actress known for her role as Mad in the film ''The Keeping Room
''The Keeping Room'' is a 2014 American Western film directed by Daniel Barber and written by Julia Hart. The film stars Brit ...
as Mad
*Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Jake Sully in ''Avatar'' and its sequel, ''Avatar: The Way of Water''; Marcus Wright in ''Terminator Salvation'', and Perseus in '' Clash o ...
as Moses
*Kyle Soller
Kyle William Soller (born July 1, 1983) is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include one Olivier Award, and three ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards.
Born in Connecticut and raised in Virginia, he attended the College ...
as Henry
*Ned Dennehy
Ned Dennehy (born 8 December 1965) is an Irish actor who has appeared in multiple films and television programmes. He is best known for his role as Mider in ''The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog''. He also appeared in ''Blitz'', ''Harry Potter and t ...
as Caleb
*Amy Nuttall
Amy Abigail Nuttall (born 7 June 1982) is an English actress and singer known for playing Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2000 until 2005, and housemaid Ethel Parks in ITV period drama ''Downton Abbey''.
Early life
Nutt ...
as Moll
*Nicholas Pinnock
Nicholas Andre Pinnock (born 2 September 1973) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as lead character Aaron Wallace in the American legal drama '' For Life'' and Leon in award-winning Channel 4 drama ''Top Boy''.
Early life and educa ...
as Bill
Production
The film was first announced in October 2012. Hart's script was inspired by her learning that her friends had two skeletons
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
dating from the Civil War in their backyards and wondering how they got there. Initially the film was to star Olivia Wilde
Olivia Jane Cockburn ( ; born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress and filmmaker. She played Thirteen (House), Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House (TV series), House'' ( ...
; she later left and was replaced by Brit Marling
Brit Heyworth Marling (born August 7, 1982) is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including ''Sound of My Voice'' (2011), ''Another Earth'' ...
. Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Jake Sully in ''Avatar'' and its sequel, ''Avatar: The Way of Water''; Marcus Wright in ''Terminator Salvation'', and Perseus in '' Clash o ...
rounded out the cast in April 2013.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in June 2013 in Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, and ended on July 18, 2013.
Reception
''The Keeping Room'' received mixed to positive reviews. , the film holds a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 83 reviews with an average rating of 6.45/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Aided by its spare setting and committed performances, ''The Keeping Room'' is just fascinatingly off-kilter enough to overcome its frustrating stumbles." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 21 critics' reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
See also
*List of films featuring slavery
Film has been the most influential medium in the presentation of the history of slavery to the general public. The American film industry has had a complex relationship with slavery, and until recent decades often avoided the topic. Films such a ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeping Room, The
2014 films
2014 independent films
2014 action drama films
2014 Western (genre) films
American Civil War films
American Western (genre) films
American action drama films
American war drama films
2010s English-language films
Films about war crimes
Films directed by Daniel Barber
Films shot in Romania
Home invasions in film
2010s feminist films
2010s American films