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63 comments in total

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38 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
Haunting, well-acted and worth seeing, 18 October 2004
Author: dpastor from New York, New York

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.

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42 out of 49 people found the following comment useful :-
Extraordinarily Real, 19 September 2005

Author: Norwegianheretic from Los Angeles, California

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.

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35 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
Keane is really a great film!, 9 July 2005

Author: lkjanes61 from United States

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.

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27 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant, 9 November 2004

Author: Lu Lu from New Jersey, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I had heard good things about this film from other people who have seen it, but you know how it is, you have to see it for yourself. Well, I have seen it and I recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see this film. First off it's not an easy movie to take, the subject matter is intense, but not in a bad way. It's all due to the brilliant performance given by Damian Lewis that you get so emotionally involved in his story. Right from the start you see the agony of William Keane (Damian Lewis) as he searches for his missing daughter and you can't help but feel like your in his situation, his emotions leap off the screen and come right at you. Then you start to see how tortured he is, especially when you learn he's suffering from schizophrenia and he's basically self medicating himself. This film is worth your time, and has a good cast. Damian Lewis should get most of the credit, he's performance is Oscar worthy. He was his character, not an actor playing a mentally unstable man. His performance reminds you what acting is really all about.

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30 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Lodge Kerrigan's Keane is brilliant, 26 June 2005

Author: khall105 from United States

Keane is one of the finest films ever made. It is an intense "edge of your seat" movie about a difficult subject - mental illness, poverty, and the impact of these conditions on an innocent child. The director, Lodge Kerrigan and the leading actor, Damian Lewis (in an outstanding performance) manage to show us Keane's world with empathy and unflinching realism. It is the type of movie that stays in your mind for a long time. I hope the film receives the recognition deserved because it is a stand-out. Quality independent films should be rewarded and encouraged and are too-often overlooked. If you get the chance, see this movie!

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26 out of 33 people found the following comment useful :-
Fantastic!!!!, 11 July 2005

Author: Nadell Swanson (swansonchick2@aol.com) from United States

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.

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19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
A tour-de-force, 30 October 2005

Author: biatchiness from United Kingdom

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.

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19 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Profound and Searing Story of A Man Struggling with Insanity, 25 September 2005

Author: noralee from Queens, NY

"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.

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20 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Very moving!, 26 July 2005

Author: milou894 from Netherlands

I saw this movie last year at The Toronto International Filmfestival. Unfortunately in Europe we don't get to see many Indy-movies, but this was a rare opportunity for me to see an excellent one. It's the kind of movie that leaves a lump in your throat after wards! I was constantly wondering if this child that he lost at the bus-terminal was real or just a fragment of his imagination. Also when he takes care of another child while it's mother is gone for a few days, you start wondering if Keane is not going to hurt or kidnap this child! Most of the movie you really feel for this guy. Especially because the camera is so close on him all the time. It feels as if you're actually following him wherever he goes.

This movie looks very real; no special effects no beautiful make-up or costumes. The acting is what acting is all about; you don't see the actor but you see the character! It sometimes feels like your looking at a documentary. Real Oscar stuff! Keane is the kind of movie that touches you, even long after you have left the theater!

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Keane is an amazingly wonderful film experience that I will never, ever forget., 15 July 2005

Author: amfr4 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw this film at the Atlanta Film Festival (June 12, 2005). When the final frame of this film went to black, my instant reaction was my lips mouthing the word "Wow" -- and I mean that in the absolute best of all possible connotations. I have never had a film reach me like this before -- in this way and so deeply. Some of the reviews have talked about how this film reaches viewers on a visceral level. Very, very true. It goes straight to the heart, straight to the soul, straight to the core of your being. It soars straight passed that part of us that analyzes and articulates. Some articles about the film have suggested that audiences might feel drained or exhausted from watching it. I didn't leave the film exhausted or drained. Mesmerized is probably a better description of how I felt. I was completely absorbed in the film from the first frame through the final one. Lodge Kerrigan has created a truly exceptional film, and Damian Lewis delivers a truly outstanding performance in the title role. If anyone ever seeks an example of an empirically perfect match of actor, role and story, this is it. Keane is an amazingly wonderful film experience that I will never, ever forget. I am immensely grateful to count myself among those who have had the fortune to see this film. If you have the chance to see Keane, see it.

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