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.
