Review of Keane (2004) by Liz R — 24 Sep 2007

Lodge Kerriganâ??s character study focuses {mostly in close up} on a severely tormented and delusional thirty-something man called Keane {Damien Lewis}. We watch as he ambles through a bus station looking for his daughter, generally losing his mind and having paranoid attacks.

Then enters seven-year-old Abigail Breslin who is living with her mother in a room down the hall to Keaneâ??s and Keane becomes her benefactor after an altercation with the hotelâ??s manager, lending her $100.

The women shows courtesy and invites him round for dinner. Naively she then asks him a favour to look after Breslin for three hours after school which ends up being much longer. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh this is at times a cringing watch but Lewis gives the performance of his life, taking on what can only be described as one of the most complex roles any actor could take on, he is scarily believable and the pain in his eyes is all too evident.

Breslin meanwhile is a complete revelation. Weâ??re given subtle hints to the fact that he may or may not have a daughter, did she die? Is he suffering from the trauma of that loss? Is she a figment of his imagination? We never know, which is a good thing and it couldnâ??t be more relevant in the wake of the current and deeply upsetting Madeleine kidnapping.