Keanu & Co. (BLU-RAY)

Before Johnny Utah, before Neo, before John Wick, there was… Ron. Keanu Reeves gave his first lead performance in 1985’s One Step Away, establishing the charm and vulnerability of his beloved screen persona while exploring the pitfalls of juvenile delinquency. The film was directed by Robert Fortier, a seasoned documentarian venturing deeper into fiction filmmaking following the success of his daredevil stunt-driving doc The Devil at Your Heels. Keanu & Co. collects three of the films he directed for the NFB’s Family Crisis Series – including Keanu’s essential debut – vividly evoking the spirit of the After School Special and its ’80s heyday. In Out of a Job, Dan Lett (The Shape of Water) plays a young engineer who returns to the home of his parents and computer whiz brother after his promising career abruptly falls apart. In One Step Away, Keanu Reeves plays Ron, a troubled teen struggling to overcome peer pressure and his own criminal impulses when his latest arrest derails the life of his single mother (Diana Belshaw). Finally, in the shocking thriller Running Scared, Stephen Mendel (Jack Frost) plays an intensely jealous boyfriend whose spying and scolding ways rapidly escalate to full blown stalking.