Keeper: Movie Review

Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Rossi Sutherland
Director: Osgood Perkins

Trading on a distinct feeling of unease and claustrophobia, director Osgood Perkins' latest slice of unsettling cinema won't be to everyone's taste.

It's the story of  Liz and Malcolm (Maslany and Sutherland), a couple who head to a family cabin in the woods for a weekend away on their one-year anniversary.  Being a self-confessed city rat xxx is already concerned about what could happen, but gives in to the idea of a trip - even if she has been gifted a beige cardigan by her beau. 

However, when Malcolm's brother Darren (Birkett Turton) ingratiates himself into their weekend, Liz is thoroughly rattled, a feeling only exacerbated when Malcolm is called back to the city on a medical emergency.

Left in the cabin, Malcolm begins to feel she's being watched - and stalked.

Keeper works well as an atmospheric take on an uneasy relationship, but slightly unravels when its true nature unveils itself later on and the exposition-heavy reveals come tumbling out. It also slightly fails to say much about the coercive nature of relationships and how people react in them, other than some one liners here and there about Liz being a "side-piece".

To say it'll be divisive is an understatement and it's too spoiler-heavy to discuss here. But the buildup to the crescendo of creepiness is perfectly paced, stressful viewing that makes great use of an architectural marvel in the woods and an angular setting. (Certainly, the amount of time the camera obsessed on corners of the house almost rivals David Lynch's ceiling fan cutaways.)

However, the film's largely held together by Maslany's varying degrees of shocked reaction, a trait that begins to wear thin in the final stretch of the movie, and which isn't quite enough to be as engaging as it perhaps should be.

A sparse narrative pervades the movie, and it does feel like the limited cast isn't quite enough to engage in parts. 

But Perkins builds on the work he's done with Longlegs and The Monkey, proving that he's more a master of abstract atmosphere than anything else.

There's an oddness coursing through Keeper's veins and while that hint of horror won't be enough for everyone, the genuinely upsetting and unsettling moments are more than enough to push audiences into a zone of discomfort throughout and appreciation of a director with a singular vision and execution.