KEANE (2005) **** Damian Lewis, Amy Ryan, Abigail Breslin. (Dir: Lodge Kerrigan) William Keane (played with heartbreaking brilliance by Lewis an Academy Award worthy turn) is a man wrestling with ultimate grief: he is searching for his lost little girl months after the incident that has sent him into a downward spiral into mental illness. <br /><br />Keane patrols the hustling bustling Port Authority Bus Terminal of New York City where he was with his daughter when he took his eyes off her for a brief moment only to lose her possibly forever. Months have passed and apparently Keane has been plagued by his absolute guilt in allowing her to be taken from him that it has affected (or possibly triggered) a panicky, inner voice that speaks to him (or more accurately has him speaking aloud to himself either calming his fear or invoking more paranoia) as he wanders seemingly aimless in the unforgiving way station (a perfect metaphor for his situation), replete with a tattered news clipping about his missing daughter that he waves to unsuspecting passersby and pedestrians alike milling about their daily chores of going back and forth to work or another destination. He is met with disdain, indifference or plainly ignored. Keane is in hell.<br /><br />Living on a disability check and residing in a New Jersey flophouse Keane manages to daily sojourn back and forth hoping for a glimmer of recognition (is that her purple coat in the distance?) that he lathers himself into a feverish foam of hope (or worse fearful pessimism) and finds himself getting a cheap drunk on in a bar trying in vein to listen to "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch (Can't Help Myself)" on the tinny jukebox to either assure him or drown out his inner rage (unnervingly maddening); having anonymous sex with a stranger in a throbbing club's restroom; scoring cocaine to amp up his courage to go on; staggering the street howling his daughter's name and sadly returning to his empty room to sleep a dreamless, troubled sleep soothing himself between wracks of sobs of pity and horror.<br /><br />One day Keane sees a single mother and child (Ryan and Breslin, both excellent) arguing with the desk clerk over money and he ingratiates himself by offering her a hundred dollars to get her by (earlier he is shown in a near similar sequence) and Lynn and Kira invite him over the next night for a takeout dinner. Lynn informs Keane that she and her adorable daughter are en route to Albany but are awaiting her husband's word that he has located a new suitable home for the family. Keane recognizes in himself what he used to be – a father to a young girl – and becomes a defacto member of this temporary family when Lynn asks him to watch over Kira and the results are heartbreaking.<br /><br />Filmmaker Lodge Kerrigan has created a truly amazing, deeply felt emotional roller coaster exploring the inner corridors of mental health, family values and the human condition that he touched base on a similar theme in his stunning debut in 1994 with "CLEAN, SHAVEN" featuring a schizophrenic (character actor Peter Greene, best known as the racist/rapist doomed Zed in "PULP FICTION") attempting to keep his demons at bay in his search for a daughter he never met. Kerrigan films his troubled protagonist at a too-close-for comfort distance in which the hand-held camera gives the theme and film a scary immediacy ; you want to root for Keane but not get that close to the turmoil broiling inside.<br /><br />The real miracle is Lewis who in a perfect world would be a natural bet for a Best Actor nod (and win) but this independent film is small in scale (and distribution so far despite it being executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh). Lewis, who shined in HBO's mini-series "BAND OF BROTHERS" and was the best thing in "DREAMCATCHER", a British actor who uncannily channels an American accent every time, is an underrated thespian who truly gives a stunning, shocking and ultimately sympathetic performance. Sure he has all the staples of a 'crazy' role: talking to himself, sudden outbursts of near-violent rage, crying himself to sleep etc. but he never allows this to overtake the fact that William was a human being and that this tragic turn of events has him in a stranglehold only fueled by his desire to be free of this ongoing (and possibly self-afflicted) curse. We are never 100% certain if in fact he had a daughter but I'd hedge my bets that Kerrigan is too sharp to fool his audience into false beliefs (I recognized one gut-wrenching clue when William mentions to a ticket clerk he lost his daughter on September 11th) particularly Lewis' gentle interplay with the natural born Breslin, a very excellent young actress who also shines in her sad, shy Kira, a child who is suffering as well inside and eventually blossoms into happiness and can see that there is more than meets the eye with William (who's final act has all the suspense of a melodramatic thriller in what the audience fears his truth to become). The words "I love you" have never resonated so much overwhelming emotion that if you are not in tears then you my friend are not human. <br /><br />Never before in my 22 years of film reviewing have I had the experience of having a fellow audience member turn to me as the first end credits began to ask me "What do you think happens to him?" proves to be the mark of a first-rate filmmaker. Keep the audience guessing as one would after instilling one's interest, concern and want to protect William Keane in his quest: forgiveness. Emphatically one of the year's best films and one that you need to seek out for the performance of the year.