Review of Keane (2004) by Adam S — 17 Aug 2011

Like his contemporaries, Belgium's Dardenne brothers, Lodge Kerrigan paints a portrait of immediacy, desperation, personal struggle, and social destitution with an unflinching verite style that borders on the abstract.

Here his flawed protagonist, a nervous, unkempt wanderer, played by Damien Lewis, lives an impossible existence, mumbling from bus station to subway platform, looking for a daughter that may or may not have been kidnapped years ago.

It's a fruitless search, but Kerrigan has sympathy for the struggling man, following his quest with urgency and a painful recognition of a growing mental instability.