The Keeping Room

Making a surprise change of scene from his gritty 2009 feature debut - the London OAP vigilante movie Harry Brown - British director Daniel Barber nevertheless continues here to pursue the theme of unlikely heroes in extraordinary situations. The setting is the last days of the US Civil War. Two Southern sisters - Augusta (Brit Marling) and Louise (Hailee Steinfeld) - together with their African-American maid Mad (Muna Otaru) are barely surviving on the desolate family farm, all the men long gone to war. In a parallel story, two thieving, opportunist Union soldiers, Moses (Sam Worthington) and Henry (Kyle Soller), are taking brutal advantage of the confusion. Augusta encounters them in the aftermath of a messy robbery, while on a mercy mission to find medicine for her sick sister. Moses lets her go, but it's only a matter of time before they meet again. The tension is slow-building but palpable, and the movie ends with a nail-biting home invasion and a refreshing feminist sting.