This was a surprising film to watch. At first the close up shots of Damien Lewis’ character muttering to himself, and manically hunting high and low for the daughter he had apparently lost, made me think that I was seeing merely the conflation of ‘Spider’ and ‘Fear X’. Fortunately, after about half an hour or so the film took off, not in an unbelievably drastic direction, but extra characters appeared and more intrigue and suspense became evident.
‘Keane’ has taken two years to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and what a pity it didn’t arrive earlier in my opinion. Maybe the distributors thought that it was unlikely to do well. Certainly my impression was of a largely cerebral plot which focuses almost entirely on the subject character of the film. Immediately the frames roll we are introduced to William Keane (Lewis), who is desperately searching for his missing daughter. It appears that he is looking for her around about a year after her disappearance. As we learn more of this character one starts to question to what degree fact and Keane’s perception correspond. It would be difficult to add more to the synopsis of this film without spoiling (the word “twists” is too strong) the turns of the plot. Suffice to say that if you can watch the first twenty or thirty minutes of the film, then you will probably be gripped by the next hour or so of content.
Writer/director Lodge H. Kerrigan has both written and directed two films before ‘Keane’. Certainly Kerrigan seems slightly intrigued by mental illness, or perhaps the delicate balance between good mental health and what is deemed to be abnormal. His first work ‘Clean, Shaven’ deals with another mentally-ill person trying to retrieve his daughter from a foster family. Maybe Keane explores certain aspects of this first film that Kerrigan didn’t feel were quite covered with enough depth?
Also of note in the film was the almost documentary-like style of filmmaking. The camera never seems to offer a long shot; all the close-up camera work allowing Lewis to show off his acting abilities and adding a certain claustrophobia to the picture. Rafts of excellent support acting are drawn in for minor characters; I spotted ‘Machine’ from 8MM playing a surly bartender!
Definitely one to see if you like psychological thrillers. I think this film will also translate well to the small screen.
**** (out of 5)
