So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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.

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.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEADLike most films which eschew the typical trappings of Hollywood movies, Keane might not be for everyone. Pushing the envelope of cinema as an experience, Lodge Kerrigan gives us a story that is so intense, it threatens to swallow us up in its honesty and realness.Damian Lewis plays Keane, a man on the brink of homelessness and losing his mind. As the film opens, we see Keane frantically looking for Sophie, his young daughter who we gather has disappeared at the port authority, some months earlier. Beside himself with grief, despair and guilt, he searches for her in the way of someone who is obsessed with repetition. You get the feeling he's been doing the exact same circuit day in and day out without a break for months.Keane is a man who is clearly living in hell. This is as bad as it gets on earth; being cognizant enough to feel the pain of a loss like this while also being mentally unstable can only be described as hell on earth.For better or worse, the direction of the film is unrelenting and truly makes us experience Keane up close, and perhaps too personal. Uncomfortable scenes of self-talk, crying and cringe-inducing escapism via alcohol, drugs, violence and frantic sex with a stranger make the film hard to watch at times.As a woman and her young child make their way into Keane's tortured world, we begin to see a different side to Keane. A friendly, conscientious and polite young man emerges from the madness as he begins to focus on this child in front of him, perhaps as she's the same age as his own Sophie. Particularly while he's asked to care for her by the unstable mother, we see a likable, steady personality emerge. While the girl is with Keane, we see him blossom and this is where the only true linear part of Keane's world/story comes to fruition. Will Keane be able to hold on to reality long enough to pull himself away from the hell he's been immersed in? The intensity of the film (you are basically watching Lewis in every scene, and with a close up usually from the shoulders up) is relentless. But, isn't that true of life, itself? How often do we get to look away in real life? All too easily. This film gives us less than two hours of what it is like to be in the world of the mentally ill.Lewis is, in a word, extraordinary as Keane. In my estimation, his performance in this film is the best of his career. Or, anyone else's, for that matter. He never overdoes it and his eyes and face express and contort to give us even more of a realistic rendition of Keane's pain.Much has been made about Lewis's fairly clean cut appearance in the film and critics have said it belies the real face of mental illness. However, those of us who have seen schizophrenia in person know that one of the most heartbreaking and cruel parts of this condition is how normal one can look and seem on the surface. I believe the fact that Keane was not horribly grubby or dirty was a very deliberate choice on the filmmaker's part and it is one that I think is often misunderstood. The fact that Keane might, at any moment "snap out of it" and become "normal" is exactly what the real face of schizophrenia is all about.Also misunderstood is the "mystery" about what happened with Keane's daughter. Much conversation revolves around what really happened to her. Indeed, we aren't ever given solid proof that she existed. Taken at face value, we see a man who was probably struggling with manageable mental illness before something tragic happened to his daughter. Whether he lost her literally or was perhaps lost in a divorce is debatable. Theories of her completely not existing, while certainly possible, aren't probable. And, those who like to talk of Keane having killed his young daughter are clearly missing the point of the entire film and should probably watch it again.Ultimately, if you're uncomfortable watching this film, it is understandable. However, missing it means missing out on one of the most powerful, realistic and personal films made.

I watched this film because I adore Damien Lewis ((Band of Brothers.) I recorded it and was glad I did; it was so harrowing I kept having to stop the tape. Don't let that put you off; the acting, from Lewis and from the seven-year-old girl who is his co-star, is heartbreaking. I don't know whether anyone else has mentioned this, but there is no music in the film. This was a wise decision by the director. Music often tells the viewer what to think and how to feel; believe me, this is not necessary in this film. The lack of music heightens the tension and makes it more realistic. The ending isn't happy, as such, but Keane achieves a kind of closure and it is beautifully done, without being sentimental. Stunning acting is paired with stunning direction. A masterpiece.