20131119: Fantasy Review--Last Keepers

The Last Keepers

1. Production Fundamentals; reception
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, PG13, 85 minutes, fantasy. Spoken word is English.
2. IMDB: 4.4/10.0 from 302 user ratings. 
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...' and 67% liked it from 18 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.6/5.0 from 17,132 audience ratings.
5. Directed by Maggie Greenwald; screenplay by Peter Hutchings.
6. Starring: Aiden Quinn as John, Virginia Madsen as Abigail Carver, Zosia Mamet as Rhea Carver, Olympia Dukakis as Rosmarie Carver, Sam Underwood as Oliver Sands, Nat Wolff as Simon.


2. Setup, Plot
1. Rosmarie is the mother of Abigail who is the mother of Rhea.  Rhea is 16 and is having an awkward time at school.  She collects plastic wrappers and makes clothes out of them, which draws some negative humour toward her.


2. The negative stereotypes of high school students are out in force.  One of the boys writes a poem (for class) that was about her, and his liking of her.  That, of course, rates a fair amount of derision.


3. John runs an art gallery and studio combination.  Rhea likes to stop by and work there.


4. Oliver edges into being her boyfriend.  Rhea starts to show her talents, first with the elements, then with healing.


5. After a Halloween party, everything seems to be going well, but then someone kills the pet goats, burns an effigy on the grounds of the home, and writes 'Witch' on the car wind screen.  Oliver admits that he told someone that Rhea was a witch.  Oh, sad.


6. Rhea changes her clothes to conform with high school life, and tells her family that she's going to leave them at some point.  She starts hanging out with a different crowd.


7. How will this turn out?  Will the prophecy ever show up?


3. Conclusions
1. Yikes.  Zosia Mamet (daughter of David) is 27, looks older, perhaps 35, and has no business playing a 16-year-old.
2. One line summary: Talented cast wasted in a vanity film.
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Lovely shots of autumn countrysides. Interiors are fine.


2. Sound: 9/10 Well done; the incidental music is often atmospheric or creepy.


3. Acting: 6/10 I liked the performances of Olympia Dukakis, Virginia Madsen, Aiden Quinn, and Sam Underwood to a lesser extent.  Zosia Mamet was just bad at acting, and the age discrepancy was impossible to overlook.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 The story is not bad, but too much screen time and too many lines are devoted to Zosia Mamet's bad delivery.  The build-up for the prophecy was rather weak.


5. Special Effects: 8/10 Almost seamless.