It is easy to really feel invisible in a giant metropolis, what with so many individuals, so many flats, and countless dramas unfurling earlier than unblinking eyes. Generally, there is a consolation in such anonymity, even a sure degree of security. However typically you need to be seen, regardless of the associated fee. The London-set thriller 7 Keys is a twisted story of affection, hope, and taking probabilities, centering on somebody who is completed being ignored. 

All of it begins with a merciless meet-cute: Two strangers catch every others’ eye after every has been stood up. Resilient and prepared for a superb time, Lena (Emma McDonald) brushes off any could-be embarrassment and embraces happenstance, introducing herself to the good-looking lone man throughout the bar. 

With lengthy wavy hair, a full beard, and a quietly dejected posture, Daniel (Billy Postlethwaite) seems like he was part of an indie rock band that just about made it, 15 years again. However now, he seems down at his telephone, jittery and misplaced. That’s, till Lena commandeers their evening with an journey that begins with a little bit of breaking and coming into, detours into heated intercourse scenes, and concludes someplace electrifyingly wild. 

What’s 7 Keys about? 

At first blush, 7 Keys looks as if a romance. Lena and Daniel are a pure odd couple: She’s outgoing, adventurous, and charismatic; he is timid and delicate, but alluring. They hit it off over a dinner the place they relish consuming unsexy meals. (Spaghetti was not made for date nights!) However when Lena seeks a kiss goodnight, she’s jolted by his rejection. Aching to get nearer to this man she decides she was destined to fulfill, she invents a harmful recreation. 

Noticing that Daniel carries a hoop stuffed with home keys, she suggests they take a tour of London, hitting all his outdated haunts. Will they cross paths together with his exes? Would possibly they intrude on new residents simply going about their lives? May they uncover uncomfortable secrets and techniques about every others’ pasts? Oh, you betcha. And as they make their approach from one location to a different, the stakes of this evening shift from loneliness to life-threatening. 

7 Keys is a white scorching thriller. 

Admittedly, the central plot twist right here is fairly predictable to anybody who’s ever heard a horror story about on-line courting. Nonetheless, the plot’s roughest edges are smoothed out by an environment that embraces recklessness and sexual abandon. Certain, possibly sure characters ought to know higher than to blindly belief somebody they simply met. However does not romance dare us to make probably (disastrously) silly selections? Hopeless romantic has all the time meant reckless romantic, hasn’t it?

At first, Lena appears a little bit of a manic pixie dream lady, beautiful and eccentric, virtually manufactured to drag the sheepish could-be beau out of his shell. As such, she revels in transgressions of their b&e spree, not solely the house invasion, however little acts of metaphorically marking her new territory. She cavalierly snacks on these strangers’ meals. She slips right into a purple gown from the closet and role-plays with Daniel, apologizing as she imagines his ex-girlfriend would possibly. Lena even aggressively marks the mattress together with her scent, wiping her fingers throughout her crotch, then alongside the middle of its neatly unfold sheets. 

A vicarious exhilaration surges in these scenes of sexual depravity, by which the brand new lovers remap town as their private pervy playground. Although initially reluctant, Daniel will get into the swing of issues within the subsequent location, tossing Lena so enthusiastically within the throes of ardour that neighbors start banging on the wall for them to calm down. The fun of getting caught is intoxicating to the lovers, as each have felt invisible for too lengthy. 

Amid their frenzied sexcapades, they start to disclose their inside selves to one another. Lena lets her guard down, exposing the vulnerabilities behind her scandalous celebration lady persona. Daniel begins to really feel bolder in her presence. However a sinister secret is creeping in to spoil their hopes for a lovestruck future. 

McDonald and Postlethwaite are dynamos collectively. 

Although 7 Keys performs in SXSW’s Visions slate, it could really feel at house within the Midnighter part. Wilkinson has crafted a gnarly piece of labor that begins with two figures acquainted from rom-coms like final 12 months’s romp Rye Lane, losers at love determined for consideration and affection. However she warps this shared want right into a scorching scorching sexual connection that dangers blinding each to who they’re actually coping with. When fantasy and actuality collide, 7 Keys tumbles right into a messy climax the place Wilkinson’s low-budget manufacturing calls for some inventive selections. To her credit score, abrupt symbolism performs nicely, as every house alongside the best way was seeded with a component of the surreal. 

Sharply setting one locale other than one other is a wash of daring coloured lights, distinguishing every with a pointy temper. One is inky in sultry reds, the proper place for a bootleg seduction. One other is hazy in heat yellow, the place the 2 fake they are a long-term couple coming house to get cozy. One other is sickly in neon inexperienced, maybe warning of an finish to the honeymoon section of this romance? These daring colours envelope audiences with the heady expanse of potentialities of an evening gone approach off the crushed path. There’s an pleasure and nervousness that something might occur. And, with a depraved grin, Wilkinson assures us that a lot will, for higher and far, a lot worse. 

The terrific chemistry between McDonald and Postlethwaite is so intense it carries 7 Keys by way of its clunkier plot factors. Their warmth virtually radiates off the display. Collectively, they carry out a dance of affection, lust, worry, and loathing that’s ruthless and riveting. It is exhausting to care a lot about telegraphed revelations or pernickety plot holes when there’s a lot oozing ardour to take pleasure in. 

Merely put, 7 Keys is a lean and imply thriller, flushed with intercourse enchantment, emotional explosions, and sick twists. When you’re searching for one thing salacious and satisfying, give this one a flip. 

7 Keys was reviewed out of SXSW 2024.