Keith

Kessler, T. (Producer/Writer/Director). (2008). Keith [Motion picture]. United States: No Hands Productions.

Why watch this film

Sometimes it pays to get beneath the surface of someone who seems like a jerk. Sometimes even someone trying to be a jerk ends up doing something powerful and good instead. This film shows how complex and inexplicable romance can be.

Plot summary

Natalie (played by Elisabeth Harnois) is a second-semester senior in a suburban high school who has just been accepted to Duke. No surprise there. She breezes through her AP courses, runs half the school’s student organizations, and is a major tennis player. But her perfect world is shaken when she gets a new lab partner in chemistry. Keith (played by singer-musician Jesse McCartney, formerly a member of the boy band Dream Street) is smart, but he doesn’t seem to take anything seriously. Even when he makes a major effort to break through Natalie’s apparent disinterest in him, he’s not very predictable. Natalie finally agrees to go bowling (“Bowling?”), but they never get near a bowling lane. Instead they spend the evening driving around town in Keith’s old pick-up truck delivering bowling balls to the front porches of their teachers’ houses. Natalie is surprised that it’s kind of fun, and when they spontaneously slip into playing the roles of veteran bowlers during coffee afterward we can see that these two might have a future together.

Unlike everything else in her life, nothing about Keith is easy for Natalie. The more she cares for him, the more difficult he becomes, to the point where he skips school for two weeks without letting her know why. Natalie’s persistence in figuring him out takes them places neither of them anticipate.

Critical evaluation

This well-crafted film rings with authenticity. As the script develops the characters and the characters reveal themselves to each other, we find it easy to see how two young people so different on the surface could develop a relationship that transforms them both. Rather than presenting a problem at the beginning and spending the film resolving it, Keith reveals the problem only at the end, conveying to viewers the same suspense that the characters feel as they try to figure out where their deepening interest in each other is headed. The strong script provides the opportunity for strong acting, and Harnois and McCartney are up to the task. Both Natalie and Keith are good at playing the roles they have figured out for themselves as young adults, but they also let the unresolved aspects of those roles to slip into the open when the going gets a little tough. Although the film is a romance, Natalie’s transformation is the thematic heart of the story, and it’s a transformation that leaves the viewer feeling good not merely because our emotions have been manipulated but because we see how Natalie has changed from someone who does what she thinks she is supposed to do to someone who has figured out what is important to her as she creates the life she wants to live.

About the writer/producer/director

Todd Kassler is best known for his work on the pre-school children’s television show Blue’s Clues, which he co-created and remained involved with throughout its 10-year run. The International Movie Data Base reports that Kassler created the film Keith “on the advice of his teenage children who complained that there were no good films for them” (Biography for Todd Kessler, n.d.). The article also reports that Keith “has won first prize in every teenage festival in which is has competed,” including the festivals in Giffoni, Italy, and Schlingel, Germany; BUFF in Sweden, and the Youth section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Malcolm Gladwell featured Kassler in his book The Tipping Point, which explores change in the contemporary world.

Genre: Coming of age, Film

Curriculum ties

One of the themes this film develops is the difference between intentions and consequences. As Keith reveals near the end of the film, he was up to no good when he started to court Natalie, but the chain of events he set off transformed both of them in very positive ways. This is a theme worth exploring in both literature and history classes.

Film-talking ideas

• Like many films, Keith starts with a good hook: a disconcerting scene of a young woman lying in the bed of a pick-up track that is slowly rolling toward a precipice. Showing the first few minutes would motivate some students to see the rest on their own, although they might be disappointed when they find out it’s not a horror film or a slasher film.

• Some students might know Jesse McCartney from his singing career, so making that connection might engage their interest.

Viewing level/interest age

I think that both younger and older teens would find the film accessible and engaging. Although younger teens might not understand the dynamics of Natalie’s transformation, the values of the film are such that it wouldn’t hurt them to see it. All teens are likely to appreciate the authenticity of the film, which taps into the good girl/bad guy scenario without sensationalizing it.

Challenge issues

Keith does not have a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, but my guess is that it would qualify for PG-13 pretty easily. Aside from some passionate kissing, there is only one brief scene with sexual content, and nothing more than bare shoulders are revealed. The f-word comes out at least once. The film does not explicitly address political or religious issues. Natalie’s parents are presented as overbearing and a bit clueless (especially her mother), but they have small roles in the film.

Responses

• Remind the challenger of the policy (in the case of the San Francisco Public Library) to present “all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

• Inform the challenger that the film is a hopeful coming-of-age story that uplifts the spirit while eschewing sensationalism and exploitation.

Why I chose to view this film

I think because I had added Speak and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist to my Netflix queue, Netflix recommended Keith. I didn’t realize until I began to watch it that it is a powerful, authentic young-adult film.

References

Keith (2008). (2009). The New York Times Movies. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/427998/Keith/details

Biography for Todd Kessler (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1383079/bio