A widower, Celeste (Betsy Adkins Johnson), attends her first speed dating event after the death of her husband. She is introduced to Robert (Bob Celli), and the two hit it off. Celeste agrees to meet Robert afterward for drinks, and just as he makes his move, Celeste feels suddenly dizzy. The night does not end as she expected.
“…just as he makes his move, Celeste feels suddenly dizzy.”
Bob Celli’s short film, The Keeper, is a tight and compact thriller, playing off the theme of an emotionally vulnerable woman set against a confident man who tends to get what he wants. It builds mystery and suspense and, for the most part, uses tension and release to keep audiences hooked in this relationship.
Though The Keeper tells a good story, it has tonal issues that keep it from being great. It’s important to slowly and consistently build suspense for the story to crescendo in thrillers at the end. It’s mainly needed for this specific ending. There’s a moment in the middle of the action where it introduces the comedic Boris and Sasha characters (with a callback) that just pulled me out of the suspense. Their “wild and crazy guys” routine comes out of nowhere and breaks any tension built to this point. In a 13-minute thriller, it’s so essential to maintain the right tone from beginning to end. It’s a severe unforced error on what otherwise is a good film.
"…playing off the theme of an emotionally vulnerable woman set against a confident man..."
Men are widowers, women are widows. Unless the subject is trans, I suppose.