Supernatural happenings disrupt a couple’s vacation to a secluded cabin in Osgood Perkins’ enigmatic Keeper.
When does Osgood Perkins sleep? Thanks to a deal with Neon, it seems he’s been working non-stop to provide his specific brand of cinematic strangeness to those who like their films a little weird and off-kilter. In the past 16 months, he’s delivered the Lynchian serial-killer hunt of Longlegs, the over-the-top Stephen King adaptation The Monkey, and now Keeper. This all after the incredible Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel, and the Shirley Jacksonesque I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
Like all of his films, Keeper is a strange film. Yes, it’s strange for how it’s shot and presented. But more in the effect it’s had over the day and some since watching it. When it played and finished, I was thinking, “I might have hated this, so nothing, what a waste.” (Note, I love slow burns; a film merely taking its time is not boring.) I still would put Keeper as the least of his films, but I’m appreciating it more now, 36 hours later than I did when I left the auditorium. Perhaps my disappointment in The Running Man seeped into my viewing, and that effect has worn off; maybe it needed a little bit to seep.
I think, on reflection, that Keeper is a film more about vibes than it is solid storytelling. It has a story to tell, surely, but the way Perkins tells it is an airy, untethered, question-filled, unfocused tale. It takes seeing the whole for it to come into focus and connect. But it’s not just this that doesn’t quite work, keeping the film from reaching the strength of his other works. Again, they are all esoteric, strange, and off-putting. But they feel more complete, engaging in the time of viewing with a footing as moved through, even as odd and flighty as they are.
Keeper is essentially a two-hander, maybe less, since for a large portion of time it’s just Tatiana Maslany’s Liz. She and her boyfriend, Rossif Sutherland’s Malcolm, are celebrating their first anniversary by visiting his secluded cabin. Liz’s friend (only heard on the phone, a portion of the isolation) thinks something’s up (good horror bestie, thanks), but Liz says it’s fine and heads off anyway. It’s not long before things get strange. Creepy cousin lives next door and stops in with a model. Malcolm insists she eats a cake left by the caretaker. She’s seeing things, images of women from different times (a disconcerting opening shows them as well), hearing voices, and everything just is weird. Left alone for reasons, much of the film is Malasay alone, wandering about, having her visions and strange feelings.
Perkins does well, along with three-time collaborator cinematographer Jeremy Cox, in keeping the viewer off balance, uncomfortable, and somewhat between slightly and fully disturbed. The cabin is all windows and angles, of Lovecraftian geometry or perhaps Jackson’s Hill House, as no angle is right. The woods loom with the feeling of watching, what is out there? Each specific sequence, outside of any context, works as a minor nightmare, unsettling and effective.
Perkins has often started down the Lynchian surrealism path, especially in Longlegs, but he goes further down in Keeper, but losing Lynch’s substance for more style. Water overlays of Liz’s dreams and zone outs could be pulled straight from Fire Walk With Me. I wish Perkins leaned more into the Lynchian surrealism, as it pulls away after a while, leaving a level of boredom in viewing that is frustrating while watching. Often, I was left with “something is happening here, but what is it, and do I care?”
Maslany is great as Liz, returning for Perkins after her role in The Monkey (or the other way around, as The Monkey was filmed first). She’s fantastic, selling someone who is often alone and quiet. Plays so much on her face. I realized while watching just how expressive she is. She has a face that looks different at just about every angle. I know she played a zillion roles in Orphan Black, and I can see it in how mutable she is from moving the camera a few inches. For a few moments, multiple times, I wasn’t sure I was looking at her or one of the manifestations. She’s paired with Rossif Sutehrland. It’s awkward. He gives an annoyingly stilted performance. He takes the air out of the room every time he’s present. And they have zero chemistry.
It doesn’t help that they are saddled with a bad script by Dangerous Animals’ Nick Lepard. Keeper is an example of a great idea and lacking execution. There’s something telling at its core, when it all settles in after the nothingness; The ideas are there, but the dialogue is awful. Liz and Malcolm talk like people meeting for the first time. Part of my overall issues, especially while watching, is the meandering. Sure, as noted, each scene has a tension and brooding atmosphere. The idea behind it all isn’t fleshed out consistently, with a lot in the air of whys and hows; where sequences exist to make a scare, but don’t add up after. I get and support the overall themes, but discussing them delves far too deep into spoiler territory, as any level of talk gives away the film’s secrets. Sorry. But they are salient points, presented underwhelmingly.
Keeper is an interesting film, led by a great performance by Tatiana Maslany. Looking at the whole, the picture is well-constructed but with big cracks. A shoddy script weakens well-shot and put-together sequences. Perkins is a fantastic visual director and has done well with his own scripts. Moving to someone else’s trips up. Yet, I’m here for what comes next.