The Last Keepers

It's a fun fall afternoon watch, with hot drink in hand. Sure it's not amazing, but it is a decent story.

This is a great story that made me and my high school age children laugh and wonder about life. The High School and Rhea's friends as well as her interactions are all contemporary and very real. The magic and wonder evolves slowly and keeps one asking questions trying to figure out the nature of this family. Aidan Quinn as the father is superb and reminded my of how much I have liked him back to his role in Reckless with Daryl Hannah back in 1984. Virginia Madsen makes a great believable "almost" angry Mom. We loved and laughed with every appearance of the character Nika played by Jee Young Han, she was fantastic. The rest of the cast, including Zosia Mamet in the lead role were very will directed and enjoyable to watch. Hats off also to the role of Simon, we think played by Nat Wolff in glasses. The music is excellent. The art focus, paintings and sculptures are inspiring. Great film all around.

If you are looking for an entertaining, magical film that will set a good example for 10 to 13 year old girls, THE LAST KEEPERS will not disappoint.

The story is about 3 generations of artistic and independent women, who happen to have magical powers. When Rhea Carver is upset. She feels like a freak. Expressing her self artistically makes her the butt of jokes at school. She does not feel better when her mom confesses that - Rhea really is different.

LAST KEEPERS is the coming of age story of a 16 year old girl who discovers that she has magical powers. She needs to overcome feeling out of place, in order to understand and master her magical power.

The story is both different, and delightful.

The Last Keeper began for me as something to have in the background while I was making breakfast. I soon found myself watching it from the beginning. Applying Bechel's rule for a watchable movie for women this movie is rated 10+. Excellent cast. Olympia Dukakis, Aidan Quinn, Zosia Mamet, and Virginia Madsen. I was on the fence about the bf for a while but then I realized that people really are like this in real life. The characters were not cookie cutter, and there was a variety of people in the cast so I did not have to remember what people were wearing to tell them all apart. This is not a movie for people who are comfortable with men having the central role or a Jolie wannabe being the main female role. Kudos to everyone for breaking the mold, I hope to see more movies with women taking control of the action, dialogue, and physical diversity in the casting. I recommend this to all beleaguered film goers and stamp it good enough for a Sundance award.

It started well enough - good cast, nice scenery, typical teenage issues including cliques, cheerleader with the cool guy, teased misfit, etc. About halfway in it took a turn toward much poorer quality across the board, and the last third was pretty painful to watch. As for the end, well yes - it certainly was an end. BOOM. No more money for any more script or filming, folks - let's call it a WRAP!

Just don't. There are far better uses of your time, and there are far better movies about teens, witches or magic than this cliched attempt that leaves you wondering "Um - that's it?"