Unnerving doesn’t begin to describe Keane, a fascinating, immediately engrossing drama from 2004 that showcased an astounding performance from Damian Lewis as a schizophrenic man frantically searching for his lost daughter. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and written and directed by the erudite filmmaker Lodge Kerrigan (currently doing great work on the new Starz series The Girlfriend Experience, also produced by Soderbergh), the film is set in rather remote and unfamiliar NYC locations, and centers on a mentally fractured man who is attempting to piece together his life while trying to accep the fact that his daughter has been kidnapped. Complicating matters is a new and unique relationship that he forges with a seemingly despondent single mother (Amy Ryan) and her daughter (Abigail Breslin), which begins to push his emotional and psychological limits. This is a film of almost unbearable tension, with a central peformance by Lewis that amounts to nothing less than a tour de force. Kerrigan based the film on his own personal fear of having his daughter go missing, and in part on a movie he had filmed called In God’s Hands, with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, but which never got released due to technical difficulties with the film stock. Aesthetically, Keane is a remarkable achievement, with most shots lasting three to four minutes, and the entire picture being shot by cinematographer John Foster with hand held cameras that upped the immediacy factor. The lack of a muscial score also reinforced the seriousness of the entire piece. This is a shockingly low-profile item that is worth seeking out, but one that will challenge most viewers.
Podcasting Them Softly 