Hot-buttered opinion on the latest flicks

Keane

Fri., Sep. 9, 2005 12:00 AM PDT

There are movies that simply entertain and then there are movies that grab you by the shirt collar and shove you up against the wall and force you to stare into lives lost in despair. That's Keane. Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers) gives an Oscar-caliber performance as a man lost and coming apart at the seams on the streets of New York City. Ostensibly, he's lost his child. But it's never quite clear if he ever really had one to begin with or if this is just another delusion of a shattered mind. The camera follows him in shaky close-up, upping the claustrophobic tension to the point where seemingly simple grief and emotional instability give way to near madness. It's not fun, but it's as much an antidote to fake Hollywood nonsense as anything you'll see this year.