Keane (2004)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Lodge Kerrigan

Writer:

Lodge Kerrigan (writer)

Release Date:

21 September 2005 (France)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A man in his early 30s (Keane) struggles with the supposed loss of his daughter from port authority bus terminal in New York...

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Port Authority Bus Terminal | Schizophrenia | Dress | Little Girl

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Damian Lewis	...	William Keane
Abigail Breslin	...	Kira Bedik
Amy Ryan	...	Lynn Bedik
Liza Colón-Zayas	...	1st Ticket Agent
John Tormey	...	2nd Ticket Agent
Brenda Denmark	...	Commuter
Ed Wheeler	...	1st Bus Driver / Ticket Taker
Christopher Evan Welch	...	Motel Clerk
Yvette Mercedes	...	Woman in Department Store
Chris Bauer	...	Bartender
Lev Gorn	...	Drug Dealer
Frank Wood	...	Assaulted Commuter
Alexander Robert Scott	...	1st Cab Driver
Phil McGlaston	...	2nd Cab Driver
Tina Holmes	...	Michelle

Also Known As:

Untitled Lodge Kerrigan Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of strong sexuality, drug use and language.

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:MA | Netherlands:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Canary Films

Trivia:

Shot in 32 days for less than $1 million.

Quotes:

Kira Bedik: Are you going to be my mommy's new boyfriend?

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2006 Independent Spirit Awards (2006) (TV)

Extraordinarily Real

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.