The movies Keanu Reeves needs everyone to see: “That’s a long list”
Keanu Reeves is a vampire. Not literally, of course, but there’s certainly a meme about it, and not just because he seems immune to the rules of ageing.
Another reason is that Reeves genuinely seems like one of those actors who has always been around, performed in every style and genre under the sun, and has almost always appeared in the most unexpected places. Name any kind of role, and the chances are Reeves has done it – from the obvious action choices like The Matrix and comedy flicks like Bill & Ted to the more iconic dramas like My Own Private Idaho.
While it would take a while to go into Reeves’ best roles, and all the reasons why The Matrix isn’t one of them, that last one seems especially poignant nowadays, not only in terms of its queer significance but for its remarkable performances by two of the pillars of cinema itself – Reeves, of course, and the late, great River Phoenix.
It’s a match made in heaven, and one that immediately brought the vision to life, with Reeves and Phoenix providing the perfect dynamic to get its core messages across. As director Gus Van Sant later reflected, “I saw a bit of the hill in Keanu’s personality and a bit of the street in River’s. They played out those extensions of themselves.”
This is a common theme across Reeves’ discography. He can just about perform alongside anybody and, more often than not, serves as the star of the show. This is also one of the main reasons why people find it difficult to name their favourite Reeves movies, or at least, the ones they feel are a must-see for anyone coming into his world for the first time.
But mainly, it’s difficult to condense the list to a sizeable portion because there are simply too many to choose from; too many gems across the career of one of the world’s most prized vampire veterans. Reeves knows this, too, because when he was once faced with the question, he didn’t name just one. He named 18.
“Off the top of my head, if I’m going to answer this question,” he said during an interview with Esquire. “River’s Edge, Permanent Record, Bill & Ted‘s 1 and 2, Matrix trilogy, Constantine, Thumbsucker, A Scanner Darkly, Constantine, Speed…”
When he was told he’d mentioned Constantine twice, he added a few more: “John Wick, My Own Private Idaho, Generation Um…, Man of Tai Chi, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Little Buddha, Dracula. All those films kind of change your life.”
This would be a fairly egotistical statement if it weren’t true. Many of those on Reeves’ list do, in fact, “change your life”, especially on second, third, and fourth rewatch, when you’re aware of all of their tropes and nuances and still enjoy them as though it’s the first time. There’s a lot of Reeves’ greatest hits to sink your teeth into, pun intended, but this is part of the fun, especially as you’ll walk away from most of them having learned something about yourself that you didn’t know before.
The funny thing is, when Reeves gave that interview in 2017, he listed off all of those classic titles after discussing his anxieties around the passage of time and all the things he’s yet to do in life. But looking at those, he’s already accrued quite the legacy, with even more years ahead of him to add to such an impressive list. And that’s assuming that he is mortal, after all.
