KEANE

Year: 2004
USA: Magnolia Pictures
UK: Soda Pictures
Cast: Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Amy Ryan, Tina Holmes, Liza Colon-Zayas, John Tormey, Brenda Denmark, Ed Wheeler, Christopher Evan Welch, Yvette Mercedes, Chris Bauer, Lev Gorn, Frank Wood, Alexander Robert Scott, Phil McGlaston, Ted Sod, Stephen Henderson, Omar Rodriguez, Sean Modica, Sharon Wilkins, Mellini Kantayya, Ray Fitzgerald
Director: Lodge H Kerrigan
Country: USA
USA: 93 mins
UK: 94 mins
USA Rated: R for a scene of strong sexuality, drug use and language
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, hard drug use and moderate sex
USA Release Date: 16 September 2005 (Limited Release - New York)
UK Release Date: 22 September 2006 (Limited Release - London, Curzon Soho and NFT, and Edinburgh)
US Distributor

Synopsis

We first meet William Keane (Damian Lewis) in the Port Authority bus terminal where he is desperately searching for his 6 year-old daughter, who has been missing for months. Repeatedly drawn to the site of the purported abduction, Keane wanders the bus station compulsively going over the events of that fateful day. Veering between days of relentless searching and nights of alcohol and drug induced extremes of self-destructive behavior, he seems to be teetering precariously on the edge of sanity.

Then one day he meets a financially strapped young woman, Lynn Bedik (Amy Ryan), and her 7 year-old daughter, Kira (Abigail Breslin), who are also staying at the same transient motel in New Jersey. He reaches out to them and soon the mother entrusts him to pick up Kira after school and bring her home. As he becomes increasingly attached to the child, the story moves to a whole new level of poignancy and tension, as Keane searches for redemption through the little girl.

Working in a handheld verite style, director Kerrigan and DP John Foster, plunge us directly into Keane's profoundly unsettled universe. Damian Lewis's riveting, visceral performance of a man grappling with the effects of a profound loss makes KEANE a complex, deeply humane and unforgettable portrait.