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30 user 83 critic

The Keeping Room (2014)

Trailer
2:05 | Trailer
Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three women must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army.

Director:

Daniel Barber

Writer:

Julia Hart
3 wins & 8 nominations. See more awards »

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Photos

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
Brit Marling ... Augusta
Hailee Steinfeld ... Louise
Muna Otaru ... Mad
Sam Worthington ... Moses
Kyle Soller ... Henry
Ned Dennehy ... Caleb
Amy Nuttall ... Moll
Nicholas Pinnock ... Bill
Anna-Maria Nabirye Anna-Maria Nabirye ... Alma (as Anna Maria Nabirye)
Luminita Filimon Luminita Filimon ... Prudence
Charles Jarman ... Carriage Driver (as Jarman Charles Augustus)
Zefir Zefir ... Battle
Delia Riciu Delia Riciu ... Mary
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Storyline

Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three Southern women - two sisters and one African-American slave - must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Some things are worth fighting for

Genres:

Drama | Western

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence including a sexual assault | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 2015 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

En defensa propia See more »

Filming Locations:

Poienari, Arges County, Romania See more »

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Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,328, 27 September 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$27,166, 29 November 2015
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See full technical specs »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The screenplay by Julia Hart was featured on the 2012 Black List, a list of the most liked unmade scripts of the year. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Louise: Heard you shoot. What was it?
Augusta: Somethin' small n' fast.
Louise: Rabbit?
Augusta: Maybe. I don't know if it was even really there. Once that gun goes off, everythin' livin' is gone.
Louise: Why's it so hard when the only thing there is you and the rabbit?
Mad: [serving up stew] The wood is big and the rabbit's small.
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Soundtracks

The Girl & The Night
Written and Performed by Emily Barker
Produced by Martin Phipps
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User Reviews

 
Failed Attempt To Showcase Strong Women
9 September 2014 | by GregSee all my reviews

The setting is the South Carolina in the final days of the American Civil War. Three southern women (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld and Muna Otaru) learn to survive by farming, hunting and other daily chores they are thrust to complete due to the absence of men who are off fighting. Their farm is isolated, so help is not readily available. They must struggle and work to survive.

Their tedious and repetitive days are brought into turmoil when two Yankee scouts (Sam Worthington and Kyle Soller) cross paths with the mother patriarch of the trio with expressed devious intentions. With only their home as shelter, the three women must find a way to survive against the two armed soldiers who have already left a murderous path in their wake.

Julia Hart's screenplay for The Keeping Room made the Hollywood Black List back in 2012. But director Daniel Barber (Harry Brown) was resilient in his attempts to bring the strong female story to the screen. Barber wastes no time in garnishing his viewer's attention. The opening scene has a local colored girl being brutally murdered by the two scouts. The shots fired from their rifles and pistols echoed throughout the theatre and caught everyone's attention as the evil of the two antagonists was on quick display. Things take a dramatic turn immediately after as we get introduced to our three female leads and their life alone from rural civilization is dull and uninteresting unable to leverage from its strong lead-in.

All three women put on admirable acting displays, but their motions are of general non-interest to the average movie-goer. Watching them plow, eat, cook, chop wood…. The Fireplace Channel is more interesting and involving than their daily life. Unfortunately, this Little House on the South Carolina Prairie goes on far too long and with little dialogue of single sentence deliveries, the film drags until the tension mounts again with the return of the two soldiers at the home.

We welcomed the piercing gun blasts that echoed the theatre to wake us up from our self-induced coma in the film's final third, but by then it was too late to get us back interested in the characters or their plights.

I would assume that Hart's screenplay and Barber's intentions were to bring a story of strong resilient women to the screen. But we are so bored by their daily routine that we were less inclined to think that these were stout and hardy women but rather three women that finally had something interesting to do. Even is that 'something' was to fight for their lives.

www.killerreviews.com


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