Saturday 9 February 2013

The Keep - An afterthought



Afterthought...

I woke up this morning with all of the best images from The Keep in my mind. 
My sleeping brain had edited out all the parts that didn’t work and I was left with a great movie.
A patron last night said that The Keep was the worst film they had ever seen, which is very harsh. 
I think The Keep is a beautiful film that looks like a painting from the German Romantic period but I do acknowledge that the film is deeply flawed but not bad, I have a soft spot for films that have flaws. Some of my favourite films are far from perfect such as, William Peter Blatty’s Ninth Configuration, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre and Donald Cammell’s Demon Seed but I still love them.
There many be a great movie within the confines of The Keep but I’m not sure the answer lies in a 3-hour cut, I predict that at least 20 minutes of it will be slow motion rolling fog.
If a 3-hour cut was ever released I would obviously watch it but with scenes with extra dialogue and an increased narrative the film many lose the crazy dream logic that it has. Thats part of it charm.
It was never the intention of Kino Klubb to show bad films purely to laugh at them (though The Keep did have one hysterical scene in it) but to bring films to the screen that need revaluation. Films that hold moments of magic and films that we hope stay with you. 
I’m proud that we got a chance to screen The Keep and that so many people wanted to share in that experience. In Kim Newman’s review of the film for Electric Sheep magazine he talks about how Manhunter has been rehabilitated from a flop to a classic and with another screening of The Keep next week in London and with Film4’s recent screening, maybe its finally time for The Keep to reach an audience it deserves. 

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