The Keeping Room (2014)

There are many kind of monsters in the world.

The Keeping Room is directed by Daniel Barber and written by Julia Hart. It stars Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Muna Otaru, Sam Worthington and Kyle Soller. Music is by Martin Phipp and cinematography by Martin Ruhe.

It's the back end of the American Civil War and 3 women fight to defend their home from 2 Union Army "Bummers"...

Uncle Billy is coming!

As genres go, the Western (Re: Southerns - Civil Wars) are primarily male dominated, but just occasionally female led pictures from this ilk come forth to shine bright. It's refreshing that in this modern era of film making, genre film makers are not afraid to pitch the female angle to remind all that women had a key part in the shaping of the frontiers all those years ago. Or as is the case here, they were not merely token fodder, but often women of strength prepared to take up the fight to protect themselves when under duress.

Daniel Barber and Julia Hart have crafted a magnetic piece, that aside from a daft misstep at pic's finale booms with feminist wiles. Opening with a burst of shocking violence and sexual assault inference, this is merely an attention grabbing appertiser as the pic then settles into a languid realm. The makers are in no hurry here, those expecting an action fuelled piece are in for great disappointment. Not to say further jolts to the system are not forthcoming, they exist and are truly throat grabbing, but tone is set at earthy realism, the sparse locations sidling up nicely with the lives of the women functioning while their loved ones are lost to the war that rages on the edge of the frame.

Performances are top end, the girls superb, the boys frighteningly on the boil for the dark side that the war would bore out. As for the look as per tech credits? With the pic being shot in Romania it is natural to approach this thinking it will lack for period flavours, yet it very much does come up trumps there. Anyone familiar with the Barber and Ruhe collaboration Harry Brown 2009, and liked its aesthetical look, will appreciate the craft on show here, more so as Phipps' musical score compliments like some sort of edgy spectre. Barber has an eye for stunning shots, here with such things as a burning carriage in flight post crime committed, or our heroine on white horse in flight through a lonely tree laden pathway, there is beauty here in a world containing monsters.

*SPOILER*

Resolution of the play is frustrating and rewarding in equal measure, the women strong and correctly earning our admiration - that they have to dress as men to escape the horrors of war just doesn't strike the right chord in a play with such a strong feminine bent - but that could just be me being picky...

Not one for those lacking patience, or misogynistic geezers who expect women in Westerns to be token fodder or punch bags, The Keeping Room has much to offer genre fans embracing this sort of story telling as a whole. 8/10

_**Near the end of the Civil War three women fight for their lives**_

During the Carolinas Campaign near the bitter end of the Civil War in spring, 1865, two sisters & a former slave (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld & Muna Otaru) have been waiting out the war at their rural homestead. A couple of Yankee cutthroats enter the picture and they have to use their wits to survive.

A slowburn Western that takes place in the East, "The Keeping Room" (2014) has sparse settings, but a competent cast, profiscient filmmaking and a realistic, grim tone. Similar movies include "Pharaoh's Army" (1995) and “Echoes of War” (2015). “War Flowers” (2012) is another one but, unlike that flick, “The Keeping Room” features top-of-the-line filmmaking for a modest-budget picture.

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Poienari, Arges County, Romania.

GRADE: B+