It’s an amazing piece of work.
Keane (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:48
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: The scrutinizing camera angles of Keane might at first feel too close for comfort, but this powerful portrait of a man distraught by the abduction of his child plumbs the depths of mental illness and the corners of fleabag hotels in an intimate and touching examination of the seedier side of life.
Theatrical Release:22-09-2006
Synopsis: British actor Damian Lewis (BAND OF BROTHERS) gives a stunning lead performance in Lodge Kerrigan's powerful drama KEANE. He stars as William Keane, a man whose daughter was recently abducted at... British actor Damian Lewis (BAND OF BROTHERS) gives a stunning lead performance in Lodge Kerrigan's powerful drama KEANE. He stars as William Keane, a man whose daughter was recently abducted at the Port Authority in Manhattan, so he patrols the bus depot, recreating in his mind exactly how it happened to see if he can figure out who took her or where she might be. He talks to himself, shouts suddenly, and looks over his shoulder with fear and paranoia, an edgy, twitchy, wholly unnerving, and remarkable performance. When he befriends a down-on-her-luck woman (Amy Ryan) and her young daughter (Abigail Breslin), it is hard to know whether he is just being helpful or whether he has some kind of ulterior motive, as the young girl is about the same age as his missing daughter. Kerrigan makes no judgments about Keane; although it is clear he is suffering from some kind of mental illness, in some ways he represents an everyman. The talented writer-director lets the tale tell itself; there is no score, and he uses only natural sound and lighting. Some of the film was even written while on location in order to make it yet more realistic, which adds to both its horror and its glory. KEANE is like no other movie ever made on the subject of child abduction, a grittily authentic film that will stay with viewers for a very long time. [More]
Starring: Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Amy Ryan, Tina Holmes
Starring: Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Amy Ryan, Tina Holmes, Stephen Henderson
Director: Lodge Kerrigan
Director: Lodge Kerrigan
Screenwriter: Lodge Kerrigan
Producer: Andrew Fierberg
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Reviews for Keane
Kerrigan maintains that balance on the thin line between sanity and madness throughout his little miracle of a film by never wavering from Keane's wavering perspective
It's not fun, but it's as much an antidote to fake Hollywood nonsense as anything you'll see this year.
Lewis, in an astonishingly elastic yet disciplined performance, invests Keane with a richly ambiguous, heartbreaking inner life that's only at peace when he manages to form a tenuous human connection.
Keane is a movie you might see on a dare, and though I think it is brilliantly conceived, I wouldn't dare to dare you.
Just another in a long line of films that tries and fails to examine the issue, taking the easy road by remaining detached from its own proceedings.
An emotionally harrowing film that's probably too downbeat for general audiences. But for the more adventurous viewer seeking provocative fare, Kerrigan's third film confirms that he's a filmmaker of acute sensitivity and psychological nuance.
John Foster's hand-held camera rarely strays from Keane's face. He's loony, all right, but you have to feel sorry for him.
It rests on British-born Lewis' astonishing performance. His characterization is so bold, so raw and so far out on an emotional ledge that you can't help but fear he'll never find his way back.
An unsettling psychodrama that opens our hearts to a mentally and emotionally troubled man.
Kerrigan is as interesting a filmmaker as is haunting the margins of modern life, a place that needs some light. And certainly some sympathy.
Lodge Kerrigan is a director worth watching, and Keane is a small wonder in a season of big but deadly, brainless blockbusters.
That might be this phenomenal film's emergent achievement: Its raw hopelessness is its universality.
The film is held together by the raw intensity of Damian Lewis' portrait of the emotional torment of a man whose life is falling apart.
The horribly overused device of the handheld camera makes Keane not simply grating and heavy-handed, but also nauseating.
Tense and intense as Clean,Shaven, but not as compelling, Keane is an uncompromising but frustrating film, marred by slender narrative and elevated by cinema verite style
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