Keane (2004)
Keane (2004) 6/10
Keane starts of with a powerful, intoxicating performance by Damien Lewis that is riveting and compelling. Director Lodge Kerrigan chooses to use a documentary style camera angle and keeps Lewis in nearly every single frame of the movie. The result, is a brilliant yet suffocating performance.
Lewis puts in a Oscar calibre performance, and given that he is onscreen 99% of the time, anything less would make the film unworkable. Playing the role of William Keane, a man who supposedly lost his daughter, Keane is a character that is clearly plagued by schizophrenia. Even the existence of the daughter is suspect- we do not know if it is true or if it is the result of Keane’s fevered delusions. There are times when he is lucid, and times where he is on the verge of loosing it. Lewis plays Keane with a hypnotic intensity that is gripping and yet at times too distant. This is probably a key flaw in the film. After a strong opening, much of the first half of the film simply involves Keane acting miserable and lost. The mundaneness of the first half makes the film move at a glacial pace, notwithstanding Lewis’s good performance.
It is only when Keane meets a struggling mother and her daughter Kira(Abigail Breslin), that some semblance of a plot begins to take hold and the film starts being interesting again. There is tension between Keane and Kira’s interaction, and we wonder if Keane is a nice friend or a schizo. Especially when he goes from creepy to almost dangerous by breaking into the room of the mother and daughter.
Ultimately, while Keane is a very well made film with a searing and gritty performance by Lewis, i can’t say i enjoyed it because the monotonous and perpetual focus on Keane’s character as well as the lack of a coherent plot makes the film slow and very plodding for much of the film. Keane is a good film that is not very enjoyable to watch.
