Keane (2005) Synopsis:
We first meet William Keane (Damian Lewis) in the Port Authority bus terminal where he is desperately searching for his 6-year-old daughter, who has been missing for months. Repeatedly drawn to the site of the purported abduction, Keane wanders the bus station compulsively going over the events of that fateful day. Veering between days of relentless searching and nights of alcohol and drug induced extremes of self-destructive behavior, he seems to be teetering precariously on the edge of sanity. Then one day he meets a financially strapped young woman, Lynn Bedik (Amy Ryan), and her 7-year-old daughter, Kira (Abigail Breslin), who are also staying at the same transient motel in New Jersey. He reaches out to them and soon the mother entrusts him to pick up Kira after school and bring her home. As he becomes increasingly attached to the child, the story moves to a whole new level of poignancy and tension, as Keane searches for redemption through the little girl. Working in a handheld verité style, director Kerrigan and DP John Foster, plunge us directly into Keane's profoundly unsettled universe. Damian Lewis's riveting, visceral performance of a man grappling with the effects of a profound loss makes "Keane" a complex, deeply humane and unforgettable portrait.
Keane (2005) Movie Review:
Filmmaker Kerrigan is clearly inspired by the Dardenne brothers' finely focussed point of view--the hand-held camera virtually never leaves the central character's face. Combined with an intense story, this is jarring, involving and, ultimately, perhaps annoying.
William Keane (Lewis) is desperately searching for his 8-year-old daughter who went missing in September (we never know how long ago that was). As he becomes increasingly manic, we realise that he's also mentally unstable, living on disability cheques in a hotel room. He befriends his neighbour Lynn (Ryan) and her 8-year-old daughter Kira (Breslin), and we soon see what he's thinking. So when Lynn asks William to collect Kira from school one afternoon, we can tell he's also worried about what he might do.
The constant tension in this story gives the film an edge the Dardennes' more meandering movies rarely achieve. There's such a clear focus on William that we are terrified something awful will happen, even though we know William is a good guy underneath his grief and illness. In this sense the film is reminiscent of Nicole Kassell's The Woodsman, about a man who's all too aware what he's capable of, but feels powerless to change.
That said, it's also somewhat pretentious and overwrought. Lewis is excellent in most scenes, although it's a showy role that teeters on the brink of Big Acting. While Breslin is perhaps too cute and naive. That they manage to keep their characters in control is no mean feat--both are superb. Kerrigan, meanwhile, grits the film with sex and drugs and sidelines that add deliberate shadows to the storyline.
And maybe he tries too hard to manipulate his audience, because the film never quite feels authentic enough. Intellectually it's challenging and strong, but emotionally it feels forced. And in the end it becomes rather clear that there is virtually no plot at all--it's a short extended with atmospheric scenes that, while effective, don't tell us enough about the characters or the situation to properly win our sympathies. But it's still worth seeing as a vivid portrait of a man on the brink.
Our Rating: 
User Rating: 
Log in to rate this movie
Keane (2005) review written by: Rich Cline
13th October, 2008 
