matrix, John Wick, 47 ronin, Speed are just some of the most famous titles of our beloved Keanu Reeves. Highly regarded for his martial arts skills, the actor has a long and varied filmography to his credit. If his name reminds you that mistreating dogs can be the worst choice of your life, know that Keanu Reeves is not all about shootings and revenge. In fact, the actor has ranged from sentimental comedies to science fiction to dramatic films.
While he is currently at the cinema with John Wick 4, we recommend 5 other films (in an immense filmography that includes films such as Johnny Mnemonic, Bill & Ted, Point Break, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, The Scent of Wild Wort, A Scanner Darkly, The Bad Batch and even Spongebob – Friends on the run) in which you can find a Keanu Reeves in different and unexpected guises.
BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED
Released in 1991 the film by Gus Van Sant won a Volpi Cup for Best Actor which went to River Phoenix. Beautiful and damned is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Its protagonists, Mike (Phoenix) and Scott (Reeves), are two young drug addicts from Seattle who go into prostitution to support themselves.
Symptom of the unease of an era, Beautiful and damned brings two tormented characters to the stage, victims of a past they are unable to resolve. Mike is obsessed with discovering his mother’s identity, while Scott shuns the well-being of his family of origin, not feeling it as his own. Drugs, sex, the journey understood above all as wandering are the themes addressed by this film which will prove to be terribly prophetic in some way: River Phoenix will die of an overdose only two years after its release.
LITTLE BUDDHA
A Seattle boy, Jesse, is singled out by a group of Tibetan monks as a possible reincarnation of the Venerable Lama Dorje. Accompanied by his father to the Himalayas, Jesse discovers that, like him, two other children are candidates for the role of successor to the Lama. Parallel to the story of Jesse, the legend of Prince Siddhartha is told, from his birth to the years of meditation in the forest.
In this film by Bernardo Bertolucci, released in 1993, Keanu Reeves played Siddhartha himself. The character’s physicality changes throughout the film, from princely affluence to the experience of poverty. This is how the actor recounts that he fed almost exclusively on liquids to lose weight in record time to carry out the scene in the forest.
Although at the release the film has not received a great favor from the public and critics, all opinions agree on the excellent performance of Keanu Reeves.
THE LAKE HOUSE OF TIME
Twelve years later Speed (1994), Keanu Reeves returns to acting with Sandra Bullock in a sentimental drama with fantastic tones directed by Alejandro Agresti.
Alex (Reeves) and Kate (Bullock) live in the same house, but have never met. They communicate with each other thanks to letters placed in the mailbox of the house itself. What the two will soon discover is that what separates them is not a physical distance, but a temporal one. Alex lives in 2004, two years before Kate who lives in 2006; he was in fact the previous tenant of the house.
The lake house of time it is not a science fiction film, but a sentimental one and as such it does not try to give rational and scientific explanations of the events. What seduces the viewer is the relationship that develops between the two protagonists and the impossibility of this long-distance love. And if the actors are Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock we’re all rooting for this love!
WEDDING DESTINATION
Speaking of couples we didn’t know we wanted, what about Keanu Reeves And Winona Ryder? Released in 2018, directed by Victor Levin, Wedding destination it is the classic example of comedy played entirely on the two protagonists and their dialogues.
Frank and Lindsay meet at the airport. They like each other, but then they argue furiously. Despite them, that fortuitous meeting won’t be the last because they will find themselves invited to the same wedding: her husband is his brother and her ex.
The two protagonists are cynical, they don’t believe in love and they suffer from an acute form of logorrhea which leads them to talk at all times. They discuss relationships, love and the meaning of life in general. The result, albeit with the very necessary distinctions, has Woody Allen vibes.
Certainly the film does not revolutionize the canons of sentimental comedy, but the chemistry between Reeves and Ryder is crackling and some dialogues are particularly successful and brilliant.
UNTIL MAYBE YOU ARE PARTED
It’s not a real role for Keanu Reeves to be in Until maybe you part, more than a cameo. But we had to include him in this ranking because how many more times can you see Keanu Reeves play Keanu Reeves?
Until maybe you do part (2019) is, again, a sentimental comedy starring Ali Wong and Randall Park. She plays Sasha, a famous chef about to open a new restaurant in San Francisco. Here she reunites with Marcus (Park), an old childhood friend who survives on his father’s money while trying to make it as a musician. Although fifteen years have passed and their lifestyles are completely different, the feeling between the two resurfaces.
About halfway through the film, Sasha goes on a dinner date with Keanu Reeves. And it’s exactly how we’d expect it to be to meet the actor. Charming, incredibly kind and selfless, as well as an expert in martial arts. All obviously exacerbated to the extreme. That scene is really hilarious. Within a rather mediocre comedy, the movie is worth seeing for that cameo alone.