Save on therapy and learn your life lessons from Keanu Reeves
Film critic James King has written a totally excellent self-help book based on the life and movies of Hollywood’s most spiritual dude, Keanu Reeves. As the latest reboot of Bill & Ted is released, he explains why
You ever have that feeling where you’re not sure if you’re awake or still dreaming?” asked Neo in the dystopian classic The Matrix. That was back in 1999 but it could easily apply to today. Uncertainty is the new normal. What was once sciencefiction has become sciencefact. Health, politics, even film release dates – nothing these days seems set in stone anymore and it’s having an effect on our mental health. According to the Office for National Statistics, 46 per cent of people in the UK have seen their wellbeing take a hit over the course of the recent pandemic. Another survey revealed one in four Scots were drinking more in a bid to cope with that anxiety. Meanwhile in the States, the Loneliness Index (which assesses feelings of social isolation) noted that mental health issues are now over 20 per cent more prevalent in Millennials than in older age-groups. If we ever needed guidance, reassurance and motivation, it’s now.
It’s why I wrote Be More Keanu. In times of turmoil, Mr Reeves – Neo himself – is someone we can always rely on to be consistently kind, consistently thoughtful, consistently heroic; in films and in real life. Whatever’s going on in the world, he’s just so... Keanu (it’s a name that means ‘cool breeze over the water’ in Hawaiian and perfectly captures the man’s serenity). In his much-mocked catchphrase ‘whoa!’ there’s just so much awe and openmindedness to aspire to. And if he’s learned to be content and balanced in an era of upset, why can’t we?
It was back in 1991 that I first saw Keanu on the big screen. The film was Point Break, the high-octane tale of an unlikely relationship between a rookie cop (Reeves) and the bohemian surfer dude (Patrick Swayze) who teaches him that waves have more answers than rule books. Perhaps it was Keanu’s stony expression that really appealed to me? Or maybe it was the way he seemed to really be trying hard when he delivered any dialogue? Whatever the reason, his blankness evoked someone in thought, someone dealing with ideas and ideologies. If there were other young movie rebels out there – Christian Slater, Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp – they rarely appeared to be so deeply invested in their beliefs. It was almost too easy for them. Keanu’s integrity, on other hand, looked like a battle for him. It felt authentic.
Fast forward to 2018 when, faced with my own mental health battles caused by an increasingly anxious world, more and more examples of Keanu’s own generosity and wisdom started to go viral on
“He’s not bothered by people thinking he’s awesome... which only makes him more awesome”
social media. I saw a video of him giving up his seat on the underground to someone more in need. I read about his gifts to crew members on film sets. I listened to him proclaim things such as “The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way”. And while a lot of the coverage was brilliantly jokey (such as the rumour – backed up by amusing photos – that Keanu is immortal) I also appreciated the simplicity of this man now dubbed ‘the internet’s boyfriend’. I’d read umpteen self-help guides but Keanu’s lifestyle and his movies had something extra: a modesty and down-to-earth quality at odds with so much of today’s self-obsession. He became a Twitter sensation without ever joining Twitter.
‘Being more Keanu’ helped me and it can help everyone. I learned to appreciate that less is more, that a life undisturbed by distractions and anchored by principles that aren’t fads or fashions is the way forward; principles such as respect, focus, ‘being excellent to each other’ (as Bill and Ted like to say). The guy was practicing mindfulness way before it became a goal for today’s constantly distracted society.
You can see those ideas and others explored in films such as The Matrix – perhaps the most philosophical blockbuster of all time – and John Wick, a franchise about one man’s grief and his quest for emotional freedom (with a lot of eye-watering martial arts along the way.) Lesser known movies like A Scanner Darkly and Replicas ask big questions about who we are and the nature of reality. Speed and The Lake House – his two films with Sandra Bullock – are wildly different yet ultimately both about unwavering dedication to a cause. Bingewatching his movies and reading up on his beliefs whilst I wrote this book felt like the best – and least expensive – therapy session I’d ever had.
So how does the man himself react to his guru status? When he sat in front of me last year in a London hotel, BBC microphone in hand and answering my first question about this ‘cult of Keanu’, he was typically tranquil, saying simply how “It’s nice that people enjoy your work.” But then that’s what makes Keanu someone to look up to in the first place. He’s not bothered by people thinking he’s awesome... which only makes him more awesome. I’ll send his people a copy of the book and hopefully he’ll think it’s ‘most excellent’ but I also know that he’s not exactly Mr Lookat-me. That’s partly what ‘being more Keanu’ is all about.
It’s important to celebrate people who have done remarkable things but it’s even more important to act on what they teach us. Keanu might be the last person to ever prescribe a way of living but his authenticity over the decades – be it in his career choices on in his personal life – is something I’m more than happy to shout about on his behalf. “I’ve known him for over 20 years and he has been consistently the same person in the most beautiful way,” Keanu’s twotime co-star Charlize Theron told me. “Of course he’s grown and all that stuff that happens in 20 years but his core, his heart, his soul, his kindness, his generosity, his sweetness has just always been so consistent. I love that about him.” The grateful reaction that I’ve had to Be More Keanu so far suggests that she’s certainly not alone.
● Be More Keanu by James King is published by Square Peg in hardback at £9.99. Out now.
● Bill & Ted Face the Music is released today