The Keep

It's difficult for me to say so, but I didn't like THE KEEP very much at all. It's about a citadel called The Keep protected by a couple of Jewish priests in the 1940's. One day, they're invaded by the Nazis, who stay over night against the warnings of the townspeople, release a demon, and reap the consequences while blaming the Jews for Nazi-soldier deaths. In terms of imagery, THE KEEP is fantastic. And, what else would you expect from Michael Mann? But in terms of story, THE KEEP feels incomplete and brisk. There's some imagery and even some of Mann's ideas that I love here, but the film itself just falls apart in so many different ways. There's even a theme, or a character, that I adore, a stranger coming out of the town mist with eyes that light up to a white nothingness.

It feels Lynchian, and perhaps that's because it is, but whenever Mann throws us a bone like two shadows coming out of a cave of nothingness, the stranger, or the town enveloped in mist and bodies, he fucks it up with a scene that's too long or doesn't make any sense. Vagueness used as a tool should rub anybody the wrong way. The only redeeming factor I can come up with for the film, one that makes me want to write a review just focusing on the fantastic imagery, is that apparently a Director's Cut lies hidden in the depths of Hollywood. That could be great, for there's so much greatness here that just begs to be released, but stays buried like the demon in the Keep.

★★ out of Five