User reviews

Lodge Kerrigan's film 'Keane' offers an emotionally harrowing portrayal of mental breakdown, aided by some unsettled (but apt) camera work and some fine performances from its small cast, including Damian Lewis in the lead role and child actor Abigail Breslin. Fun, it isn't, and the mystery of Keane's grasp on reality is never entirely solved, as the relationship between the real past, and the past as he imagines it, remains unclear. The film not only speaks of mental illness, but more generally, of the loneliness of life lived in public places (motels, bus stations) by those who cannot afford, or hold onto, a private corner of their own. It's disturbing but good.

Disturbed William Keane (Damian Lewis) is frantically searching the bus terminal in NYC. He's broke and barely able to pay for his room. He befriends neighbor Lynn Bedik (Amy Ryan) and her daughter Kira (Abigail Breslin). He does drugs with Michelle (Tina Holmes). He's looking for his daughter but it's questionable whether it's real or all in his mind.

Damian Lewis does a brilliant job as a mentally disturbed man. I love the scene in the bar as he tries to listen to the music. More visual cinematic moves can be done to create his mental illness. He needs to have hallucinations of his daughter and she needs to be on screen. It's also a bit slow at times. Otherwise, this is a great character movie.

Keane is a haunting film about a man suffering from both schizophrenia and the abduction of his 7 year old daughter. The director used long takes and up-close shots so that the audience feels drawn into the mindset of the man. While the movie is very intense, it is not unbelievingly depressing primarily due to Damian Lewis' outstanding performance as Keane. He befriends a single mom and her 7 year old daughter and those scenes manage to convey a mix of sadness, humanity and foreboding as we see Keane struggling with his inner demons. Most Hollywood actors would give a scenery-chewing performance of grief and madness - but Lewis gives a searing, contained portrayal. He shows us this man's humanity, but does not flinch from also exposing his flaws, including drug abuse and physical violence.

Keane (2004)

This is a one man show all the way, and young, slightly crazed father played by Damian Lewis gives it his intense best. Almost nothing happens for 100 minutes, nothing in the sense of plot development, so it really is up to Lewis to make his troubles come alive. His problem is that his daughter disappeared when he was with her in a bus station, and a year later he is still looking for her, trying to recreated the events that surrounded the mystery.

But what strikes the viewer is maybe impatience, not with the narrative, but with the presentation of it. The movie ends up being a recreation of the tortured mind, the angst, the regrets, of this young father. And so the movie recreates that anxiety in the viewer. It seems impressive on some detached level, but it doesn't quiet work. The shaky camera, the constant striving and looking, the endless lack of progress, makes for unpleasant viewing. That doesn't mean it isn't interesting, but it isn't enjoyable. Oddly enough, many movies about terrible things manage to rise above their terribleness and the movie becomes moving, or enlightening, or simply aesthetic. "Keane" doesn't try to do any of those things.

It would help if Lewis were able to create a more sympathetic type. You do want him to succeed, but you also don't want to really spend an hour and a half with him like this. When a second character, a young woman, arrives halfway through, it seems like a crack in the gloom, but then she doesn't become a major character. Her daughter, gradually, does, but only in a symbolic way--we never quite get to know or sympathize with the daughter directly.

This is all more analysis than criticism, really. But it's a heads up for people looking for a certain kind of emotional drama. A movie like "Julie" has a filmic richness that takes an even worse situation about a child and makes it gripping. "Keane" remains in the mind and emotional troubles of its main character, and in Lewis's hands that's not really enough.

My review will get panned as it's clear that many have had something to do with this film and thus the 7 rating.

Good: The acting is very good. Breslin does a great job as a young child who isn't quite sure whether the neighbor is truly helping or abducting her. Lewis is also excellent, very believable and always his character. The script is compelling in the sense that it's a good idea for a story. Lewis does a very good job being scrutinized as the only person on screen. That's not easy.

The Not So Good: The problem with the script is two fold. First, I had a hard time with credibility. You jump in to the film where a man who would be picked up by police quickly roams through a bus station. And the film is trying to pass off this "is he crazy or is he not crazy" question. But it is extremely exaggerated. And then this man, who appears to live barely day to day, also has a coke habit. It appears they are trying to portray the man as a schizophrenic but those don't know their other personalities. He's having a breakdown of sorts over a daughter he had and lost... although is it really the case? How about the woman he spoke to on the phone - or are we questioning whether she too is real? It sure seemed it to him during a lucid moment.

The lame: I understand what the filmmakers wanted to do. But all of promise of this "rewarding final third" of the film is just predictable and also not quite realistic. Neither were the liberties taken by the mother, which I will not write here. And then the ending.... no, it's not clever. It's usually a decision made to not want to provide a proper ending to a story, the usual gobbledygook about questions, choices, etc. Please... I didn't invest 90 minutes because I thought that all you wanted to do was show me a performance piece.

In the end, that's much of what this is - a low budget performance piece if you're up for that. They did a good job with what they have. And I will warn you now that you'll need complete patience to sit through this 90 minute film and realize that there isn't anything extraordinary statement made. It's more about the journey over a few days, if you believe it.

"Keane" is a searing portrayal of mental illness. Dominated by an intense tour de force performance by Damian Lewis of the titular character on screen in close-ups for the entire film, writer/director Lodge H. Kerrigan throws us into "Keane"s disturbed mind set from the get go, as we have to continually judge for ourselves what is his grip on reality.

His struggles with what may or may not be paranoid schizophrenia or a breakdown triggered by guilt are conveyed Dogme style, with no "A Beautiful Mind" tricks. Through his mutterings and movements we see the world from his tormented perspective as he painfully re-lives what is either a trauma or a delusion, and ache with him as he self-medicates with booze and drugs. We alarmingly get to understand his mind even as we fear for his safety and others around him, particularly each time he drinks a beer.

Lewis uses his leading man good looks, even disheveled, to show how manipulative and disarming a person with a fractured mind can be. We can viscerally feel his efforts to control his thoughts and behave responsibly when the stakes are very high. He uncannily captures the look of disturbed men seen unfortunately frequently on the streets of New York (I was punched by one once after he stared at me fixedly in a store) and who are brought to public attention openly after a subway platform pushing or inexplicable knife attack.

The ambient sound design brilliantly captures "Keane"s highly stimulated perceptions and keeps us at the edge of our seats in agony as to what sound or sight could set him off. The ambient song selections are beautifully selected to heighten his emotions, including the 4 Tops' "I Can't Help Myself."

The people who briefly interact with "Keane" are excellent character actors who create whole, almost as damaged individuals with just a few lines, particularly Tina Holmes as a coke head and Amy Ryan as a single mom with significant problems. Abigail Breslin is one of the sweetest children on screen in a long time and her projection of trustingness adds to the poignancy of her scenes with Lewis that have the audience holding their collective breaths for their unpredictability.

The film makes excellent use of realistic locations in New York and New Jersey with a gritty, very urban-sensitive cinematography.

The credits include thanks to Fountain House and Project Return which work to help the mentally ill fit into society. I wish more hopeful information on what is being done were added.

"Keane" is a profound example of the moving simplicity of the storyteller's art revealed by brilliant acting through characters that portray the human spirit.

Only quite rarely does a film have the quality of an event really taking place. You get that feeling when you are watching 'Keane.' Most filmmakers, even the most gifted, don't seem to have the uncompromising devotion to create a realistic world in their films. Inevitably, the temptation to show their stylistic talent is what dooms well-intentioned 'verite' directors to water down their works with artifice. The only other film, in recent years, that also succeeded in recreating the real world, was 'Rosetta,' a French film that won the Palme D'Or a few years back.

And the reality that Lodge Kerrigan and the actor, Damian Lewis, create in 'Keane' is one that is particularly difficult to create - it is a reality of a person on the edge of sanity, a reality that few people who are sane enough (if anyone can be considered sane in this business)to get a film made would ever have experienced. Unfortunately, I can understand the isolation, paranoia and desperation that William Keane expresses in this movie. And it expressed with an alarming verisimilitude.

Despite my first comment that 'Keane' is a film without artifice, there are elements to the structure and editing that show the director/writer had made extremely subtle uses of film technique to compress, heighten and intensify William Keane's psychological character.

Finally, I must add that this film is an emotionally rewarding experience, providing a denouement that is cleansing and healing - a 'happy ending' that smacks of real life, not the strange and manipulative world of formula film making. When I left the theater, I felt stronger, purged, for a while at least, of the private terrors that always lurk beneath the surface.

To start off I just want to say that this man does not have schizophrenia. I'm not sure if it got mixed up due to the fact that he directed another film where the main character had schizophrenia or if people can't tell the difference between mental illnesses and just went off of what this description said. Keane suffers from bipolar disorder, this is a very accurate representation of what it is like to have a manic episode. Now to put all that aside- this is an amazing movie. The hectic pace keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole thing but there is enough tender moments to keep things on an even keel. The cinematography is amazing and keeps us close to the character. I do wish the ending was a little different but that's just my opinion. I'm a huge fan of Lodge Kerrigan's work and if you can you should take the time to see a few of his other films. Like Gus Van Sant, he has a penchant for showing the lives of the type of people that are not usually represented on the big screen.

Someone must have thought this would be a good idea for a movie. What is going through the head of that guy wandering down the street? Why is that guy sleeping on the street? Who lives in those rent by the day city hotels? ...But it wasn't.

Keane goes on and on with the aimless wandering and mumbling of a supposed street schizo. Sound exciting? If you said no, that's right. The film never answers where this guy came from, so you never get to decide whether to have empathy for him or not.

Writing. I'd say the film never goes anywhere. There no ups or downs, just an even keeled annoying 'maybe I'm mental' chain of events. The only possible suspense is whether Keane's turmoil is based on real or imagine events, but that is never resolved.

Acting. The lead did a good job with what material he had. He is a convincing street schizo. It was nice to see a couple of quality actors from HBO series on the big screen from The Wire and Six Feet Under, but no real meat on their parts to take them beyond 'I know that actor from somewhere'

Luckily, you only have to sit through this film for 93 minutes and you're done. Whew.

This will be remembered more for the period it was made rather than its content. It's hand-held cinema verite style in almost Dogma fashion is very much in that late nineties to mid 2000's vein. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The acting is top notch and the direction too and most of the elements are in place, even though it does feel like many others that came before it and since.

The problem is in it's authenticity. The first act sets up a very damaged man. In the second he can apparently turn his illness off like a switch. Now many people can hide their problems, such as alcoholics, those with anger issues, but this doesn't border on the ridiculous, it is ridiculous. I'd love to hear from true sufferers such as the type revealed in the beginning of the film (very well portrayed by the way) but magically throws it out the window. I think it's an insult to genuine sufferers of mental illness.

Still, the other characters are totally believable even if their actions are not always which seems such a shame because you do care about these people, especially when there's a child at stake.

The ending simply annoyed and yet, again, slots right into that type of indie filmmaking typical of this period. It will ultimately be no different than looking back on film noir, early screwball comedy's, seventies horror or even eighties teenage flicks. A film entrenched in its style without fully extending beyond it. Which is a shame as so much of it is good, especially the primary performance.

After the end of the film my first thought was "What's the point?". And although the film kinda ends abruptly, I knew it was ending the moment Breslin says "I love you". To be honest, this film made me feel very uncomfortable, luckily I watched it alone, and i FFWD through the beginning a lot, since it is embarrassing to watch and every second you expect this guy to make even more of a fool of himself than he is doing. Of course, that fact alone gives away that the acting is great, and it really is. Of course Breslin is her usual greatness, but here Lewis definitely takes the cake. He is superb!

This film looks low budget, but I was wondering all through the movie how much extras were used, and they were all extras, since none of them looked into the camera. I'd really hate that.

The beginning is really hard to watch, even though I like indie movies, with a lack of background music, but it is just that the character Keane is extremely unappealing in his madness, or supposed madness. It is a good thing that the film doesn't provide a prêt-à-porter answer to it's major questions, like : Is he really crazy, is it a dream, is the Kira the girl he really lost instead of Sophie? Because, at one time, I had the feeling that there was a flashback structure, that the beginning was really the end of the story and that Kira was the girl he lost, upon which he lost his mind and mistook her for Sophie, his real daughter who is apparently unavailable to him because of a divorce. In that sense I was a little surprised, which was nice.

All in all, a quality film which is not easy on the eyes, except with the non-nude sex scene. That scene throws you off, cause it indicates that he's not quite the deplorable character he seems to be in the beginning. In that sense, it is debatable whether Lewis is a miscast since he has this typical middle-class suburban image, and not an outsider/fringe/loner. That is puzzling.

In Keane, director Lodge Kerrigan shows us a world we often try to avoid, the world of poverty and mental illness. Damian Lewis is riveting as the title character. Keane is a man who is struggling to be normal in spite of his illness, isolation and the loss of his child. We see Keane's life with all it's ugly and often self-destructive details that include drug use, violence, and anonymous sex. But somehow Kerrigan and Lewis make us pity Keane. The scenes that show interaction between Keene and the young girl he befriends are both terrifying and touching. The film is intense, exciting, scary and brilliant. This is an important movie and both Lodge Kerrigan and Damian Lewis deserve recognition for creating this incredible movie.

Lodge Kerrigan takes the viewer to the world of Keane who struggles to stay on the thin line of sanity. The film is executed in such a unique way that allows the viewer to be an invisible spectator observing Keane in his disturbed world. Kerrigan also provides a glimpse into Keane's fractured schizophrenic mind and he successfully manages to create a sense of isolation. At first we question what is real in this world that the director portrays and what is not and no definitive solution is provided because that's not what 'Keane' is about as all of it is real to him. In the opening sequence we see him searching for his daughter whom he had lost a year ago. Perhaps this is a metaphor referring to the time when he hit rock bottom with his illness and has been trying since to find his way out. Shot with excellent cinematography, using slightly washed out colours and dim lighting, the atmosphere is effectively gloomy and claustrophobic.

But, 'Keane' is a character-driven piece and credit must go to Kerrigan's writing and Damian Lewis's extraordinary performance. A lesser actor would not have been able to handle such a complex role and could have messed it up but Lewis nails it to the core. This is among his best works. Many have complained about the other performances saying that there was something off about the actors but that was the point because it's about how the title character sees them. Abigail Breslin delivers a sincere performance and Amy Ryan is good too.

'Keane' is an engaging, atmospheric and cerebral look into a shattered mind. Kerrigan has made a fascinating film.

I had to raise my "Keane" awareness when I heard numerous critics were flabbergasted by the gripping independent film "Keane". Writer-Director Lodge Kerrigan's film is a risqué narrative on the ruinous effects of child abduction on a parent. The film follows protagonist William Keane on a quasi-delusional journey of desperately searching for his lost daughter whom was abducted a year ago. Keane continuously demonstrates his maniac fixation by a constant self-mumbling and a degrading drug addiction. Halfway through the film, Keane befriends Lynn and Kira, a mother and young daughter, at a city hotel. Keane especially bonds with young Kira and uses her as a pawn to retrace his mental steps on the erroneous downfall of why he lost his daughter. I was dumbfounded by Damian Lewis' intrepid performance as Keane. It was Kerrigan's directorial efforts which I found to be too overbearing on a touchy subject. However, his scribe was commendable especially in his verbal interactions with the mother Lynn. "Keane" was not the "keane", I mean king, of independent films this year. I must also alert you that its melancholic subject matter is not for everyone. However, I do marginally recommend for moviegoers to find "Keane". *** Average

I finally got to see this film last night at LFF in London, and it has been more than worth the wait.

The moments between relative lucidity and mental anguish of William Keane are forcefully explored and successfully displayed by the joint work of Lodge Kerrigan's in-yer-face directing coupled with Damian Lewis' profoundly poignant interpretation of a man clinging precariously on the edge of some kind of sanity and not always succeeding as he knows he should.

I have never encountered such a long period of total and absolute quiet at the end of the film as I did at the end of Keane: the collective breath-holding was incredible.

Chilling, yet strangely warm, this film left me with more questions than answers and an empathy towards the character and the subject of mental illness as a whole than I have ever experienced. It simply has never been something I have concerned myself with. If this is what Lodge Kerrigan set out to achieve, he has more than accomplished it to my mind.

An important film that is a tour-de-force for both Lodge Kerrigan's tight direction and Damian Lewis' craft as an actor.

Go see it if you can. Lobby your local cinema to show it if necessary, but see it.

I like Damian Lewis. I like street dramas. I like little children who are trusting and don't get hurt by their trust. I have empathy for 'lost' souls on the streets. I'm not entirely unfeeling.

But 'Keane' is a bore. It did nothing towards making me understand the title character's predicament, how he got there, if his story was true, or if he even had a story. I only know he was getting a government check, lived (for about a week and ½) in some motel, and was delusional.

Damian Lewis can act well enough, and doesn't need me to tell him this performance was competent enough. But he didn't make Keane sympathetic, interesting, nor worthy of 94 minutes of closeups. I'm in the minority on this I can see, but this is an independent film that gives independent films the reputation of 'independent' films – as in '…for an independent film it wasn't bad'. Only in this case it wasn't even close to being 'not bad'.

You could roll in a field of poison ivy and possibly have more fun than you will seeing this picture. Or you might try taking your video cam on a city stroll and pairing up with somebody who's agitated and talking to himself. This should give you a fair idea of "Keane" in a NUTshell. Damian Lewis, the star, does a creditable job portraying a churning, distracted mind; he'd be admitted to any psych ward in record time. But what I rent films for, ordinarily, is satisfaction and entertainment, so this did not serve my particular purpose. If you enjoy watching a guy rocking with what may be tardive dyskinesia and trying to drown out auditory hallucinations with loud music, this will be your cuppa. I would like to see this rather fine actor in something more appealing, as someone other than the heavy or a person of questionable mental or moral faculties.

I saw Keane at the 42nd annual New York Film Festival and was quite pleasantly surprised. I'm really not an indy film buff, well, I wasn't until this trip into the city. I was absolutely captivated and completely engrossed in this film. This is one of those films that keeps you on the edge of your seat and easily wraps you into the story. You really feel like your are with William Keane, you can feel what he's thinking. Then the story will take an unexpected turn...see, I told you it keeps you on the edge of your seat. This film is definitely thought provoking and sensitive to all facets of the human being. It's one of those films that you can see repeatedly and get something new from it each time. I think the only thing I don't like about it is that I can't see it again easily or purchase it on DVD. I would LOVE to have this film in my personal movie collection.