WHAT OTHERS SAY
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[In Pillars Of The Community,] the main protagonist Karsten Bernick [is] brilliantly portrayed by Damian Lewis.
-- Dale Maitland Cartwright (article author), Islington Gazette, January 4, 2006
[It] has become so expensive to market movies that plenty of great stuff doesn't make it to theaters here, including a movie that featured the best performance I saw last year: Damian Lewis in "Keane."
-- Chris Hewitt (article author), Pioneer Press, January 4, 2006
British actor Damian Lewis (Band Of Brothers) gives a stunning lead performance in Lodge Kerrigan's powerful drama Keane. He stars as William Keane, a man whose daughter was recently abducted at the Port Authority in Manhattan, so he patrols the bus depot, recreating in his mind exactly how it happened to see if he can figure out who took her or where she might be. He talks to himself, shouts suddenly, and looks over his shoulder with fear and paranoia, an edgy, twitchy, wholly unnerving, and remarkable performance.
-- [article author unknown], Orpheumtheatre.net, January 13, 2006
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.
-- [article author unknown], Onenightcinema.net, January 13, 2006
Working [on Friends & Crocodiles] with Damian [Lewis] and Jodhi [May], two young actors emerging into truly leading actor status, has been one of the most exciting experiences of my career.
-- Stephen Poliakoff (writer-director of Friends & Crocodiles), Radio Times, January 14, 2006
William Keane [is] played on a razor's edge by Damian Lewis.
-- [article author unknown], Australian Film Commission, early-mid January 2006
I've said it before and before and before and I'll say it again and again and again: Lodge Kerrigan's Keane is the most harrowing tale of redemption ever committed to celluloid. How Damian Lewis didn't get nominated for a Spirit Award -- let alone an Oscar -- makes me want to abandon all hope whatsoever for challenging, invigorating cinema. Fortunately, the film exists to keep me hopeful. Great art will continue to be made even if nobody else seems to care. Keane is exhilarating proof of that. ... Best Actor: Damian Lewis, Keane.
-- Michael Tully (article author), Indiewire.com, January 18, 2006
Keane [is] played with humanity and rigor by Damian Lewis of Band of Brothers. ... Lewis brilliantly sways from sane to cracked, not in some showy, theatrical way, but in subtle gestures that show us the madman is always there, even when he's at his most sentient.
-- Roger Moore (article author), Orlando Sentinel, January 19, 2006
In the lead roles [in Friends & Crocodiles], Damian Lewis was astounding as the capricious entrepreneur Paul Reynolds.
-- [article author unknown], thecustard.tv, mid-late January 2006
A beautifully realised portrayal of two people finding joy in each other, when they expected and sought nothing of the sort, Brides features excellent performances by its two leads, Damian Lewis and Victoria Haralabidou, and brilliant direction by Pantelis Voulgaris.
-- Mark Lavercombe (article author), Hoopla.nu, January 2006
British actor Damian Lewis (Band Of Brothers) gives a stunning lead performance in Lodge Kerrigan's powerful drama Keane. ... He talks to himself, shouts suddenly, and looks over his shoulder with fear and paranoia, an edgy, twitchy, wholly unnerving, and remarkable performance. ... Keane is like no other movie ever made on the subject of child abduction, a grittily authentic film that will stay with viewers for a very long time.
-- [article author unknown], Galaxy Cinema (mygalaxycinema.com), February 3, 2006
"Pillars [Of The Community]," in a new version by Samuel Adamson and helmed by Marianne Elliott, is an ambitious evocation of the suffocation of small-town life, saved from going over the top by the powerful and nuanced performances of Damian Lewis as the leading man Bernick and Lesley Manville as his lost love Lona.
-- Andy Humm (article author), Gay City News, February 16, 2006
Damian Lewis's visceral, frantic performance as a man capable of anything -- such as inflicting harm upon himself and others, including the little girl -- makes this proximity feel dangerous and uncomfortable. The emotional payoff for those willing to surrender and truly penetrate Keane's addled mind is as rewarding as the film is bleak.
-- Matt Riviera (article author), Last Night With Riviera, February 18, 2006
"Friends and Crocodiles" also has, as its leads, the intensely charismatic Damian Lewis as Paul (Soames Forsyte in the recent "Forsyte Saga" remake), and the intensely intelligent Jodhi May (Elizabeth Jane in the "Mayor of Casterbridge" remake) as Lizzie.
-- [article author unknown], New York Daily News, February 23, 2006
As the enigmatic Paul, Lewis delivers a striking performance that rivals his all-American hero in Band of Brothers and his controlling husband in The Forsyte Saga. Friends & Crocodiles also presents a sexier Lewis and embellishes his status as a redheaded heartthrob.
-- Hal Boedeker (article author), Orlando Sentinel, February 23, 2006
As portrayed by British thespian Damian Lewis (you've seen him in the Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher and the HBO miniseries Band Of Brothers), Keane is a fractured, desperate human being -- it's a superb, meticulous performance that tragically went all but unnoticed during the film's limited release in 2005. ... Kerrigan sketches Keane in unsparing, minimalist strokes, eschewing a soundtrack and preferred to let the claustrophobic narrative works its magic; suffuse with a grungy sense of place, it's a faintly hopeless, drab world where Keane's seemingly untreated mental illness creates a tragic cycle of dysfunction that he can't possibly hope to break. Kerrigan's narrative economy isn't for lack of material; it's simply due to the fact that through his skillful direction and Lewis' raw, revelatory performance, there's very little fat to be found. At the risk of beating a dead horse, there really isn't enough that can be said about Lewis' truly amazing performance as the titular character -- you can literally see Keane's world unraveling from moment to moment; Lewis' gaunt features and piercing blue eyes lend an unsettled air to this man so clearly ill at ease with himself. His performance overshadows all others in the film. ... I can think of several reasons why you shouldn't miss Keane, but you really only need one: Damian Lewis' performance will stick with you for days and despite being released last year, it's still one of the best I've seen in 2006. This minor masterpiece disquiets even as it enthralls -- a compact, tightly wound piece of drama that functions almost as a tone poem or heartsick meditation, Keane is supremely engaging filmmaking that slips under your skin and stays there. Don't miss it. ... Final thoughts: Put simply, writer/director Lodge H. Kerrigan's disturbing Keane is an unforgettable film, one fueled by Damian Lewis' searing performance as the titular character and Kerrigan's willingness to get in close and stay there.
-- Preston Jones (article author), DVD Talk, March 9, 2006
[Keane] is the type of film that would not work with the usual studio A-list stars. For it to be as successful as it is depends on a cast that the audience can accept as regular people like those we pass on the street each day. Damian Lewis has been in enough projects that some may recognize him but he is perfect as the lamentable Keane. He offers us a characterization of a man in turmoil. Lewis imbibes pathos into Keane that reaches off the screen. He acts with every aspect of his being. His face emits more emotion than most actors can provide with lines of dialog. Lewis is able to switch between the different emotional states of his characters in a moment. One minute he can be the kind of person you would cross the street to avoid, the next a kind man that you can believe a mother would leave her daughter with. ... All round the performances here are far above the usual.
-- "Doug" (article author), Hometheatreinfo.com, March 15, 2006
[In Keane,] Damian Lewis, who made such a strong impression in Band Of Brothers, finally has another showcase in which he can show off his remarkable chops. He's brilliant here, and it's one of the saddest, strangest performances from last year.
-- "Moriarty" (article author), Aint It Cool News, March 20, 2006
"Keane" depends solely on the acting talent of Damian Lewis. The slightest misstep, the tiniest error in judgment and this film would crash and burn. But Lewis avoids all actor-ish pitfalls and gives a simply amazing performance that, in and of itself, makes "Keane" worth checking out. ... Damian Lewis is outstanding. ... Writer/director Lodge Kerrigan's style places the camera in Lewis' face, capturing even the most minute move made by his star in such a frenetic way that it's almost to the point of being unwatchable. Enough can't be said about the performance of Damian Lewis. The British actor's American accent is dead-on and he seems to have become this character rather than simply playing him. To say Lewis' is an astonishing performance would be putting it mildly, that's just how good he is.
-- Rebecca Murray (article author), Movies.about.com, March 21, 2006
Damian Lewis' devastating performance makes Keane a riveting, complex and deeply humane experience.
-- [article author unknown], Slashfilm.com, March 21, 2006
"Keane" emerges an unflinching portrayal of an individual, powerfully acted by Damian Lewis, battling serious mental instability while searching for human connection.
-- [article author unknown], Washington Times, March 23, 2006
What makes "Keane" compelling [is] Lewis's performance, which burns with a mad, flame-like heat, tempered by the fragility of a candle in the wind.
-- Michael O'Sullivan (article author), Washington Post, March 24, 2006
Damian Lewis carries this film [Keane] with a breathlessly credible performance of a man lost in the no man's land of mental deterioration, drugs, and alcohol. ... This film may be too tough for most viewers who expect more information in a story, but for those brave enough to enter the mind of a mentally disturbed man and view the world through his perceptions and fears and needs, so brilliantly enacted by Damian Lewis, this film will stay in memory.
-- Grady Harp (article author), Barnes & Noble Customer Reviews, March 26, 2006
[Keane is] played by the amazing Damian Lewis, who is searching Port Authority for the young daughter he claims was abducted while under his care. His quest for love and connection is shattering.
-- Peter Herbst (article author), Premiere, March 2006
[In Keane,] Kerrigan's kinetic camera work and the sheer immediacy of Lewis's performance are awing -- the camera cozies up so close to the actor's face during painful moments that it's almost impossible to keep watching. But you keep watching.
-- Melora Koepke (article author), Hour, April 6, 2006
Keane [is] played brilliantly by Damian Lewis.
-- Matthew Hays, Montreal Mirror, April 7, 2006
[In An Unfinished Life,] also look for cameos by Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) as Gary Watson and Camryn Manheim as Nina. Every actor has a moment to shine in this movie and they make the most of it.
-- Scott Chitwood (article author), Comingsoon.net, April 10, 2006
Throughout the whole ordeal [of Keane], the camera stays trained within a few feet of [Damian Lewis's] face, never allowing us to escape [Keane's] mental instability. It's an apt technique that, combined with Lewis's stunning performance, forces us to identify with a man we could all-too-easily despise. Somehow, Keane's humanity is allowed to shine through a veil of sweat and psychosis. I first saw the film at a press screening before the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, where it won a critics' prize. After the credits rolled and the lights came back on, I was curious to see how Montréal's grizzled cinema press corps had weathered the assault. People were visibly disturbed, some of them letting out sighs of relief as they left, others glued to their seats, not knowing how to react. Keane isn't necessarily a fun or entertaining movie to watch, but it's an important one. This is a film that crawls under your skin and refuses to crawl back out.
-- Matthew Leon (article author), The McGill Daily, April 10, 2006
[As Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing,] Lewis, a Serious Actor who showed his range famously playing Soames in the remake of The Forsyte Saga, is marvellously shallow, vain and comic.
-- Jane Clifton (article author), The Dominion Post, April 18, 2006
Since we were small, we made up characters and then went on adventures. This time [as we film The Baker], I've made up the characters, and Damian is the character going on the adventure. He's a fantastic actor, and he's got great comedic timimg. When I'm on set, I believe he is Milo. Between takes, I am able to use a sort of shorthand -- we've been doing it all our lives.
-- Gareth Lewis (Damian's brother, and director of The Baker), This Is Herefordshire, April 28, 2006
[In Keane,] a true tour de force by British actor Damian Lewis (Dreamcatcher) supports this story with no cops or criminals, but with all the suspense of a thriller. Kerrigan walks with the actor in long takes using a hand-held camera, showing him even at his worst, erasing the distance between Keane and the audience: relentlessly, keeping up the tension until an abrupt end with no time for catharsis.
-- [article author unknown], Buenos Aires 8th Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, April 2006
[In Chromophobia,] Damian Lewis ... delivers a raw performance filled with authenticity and desperate energy. He easily outshines some very gifted actors.
-- Matt Riviera (article author), Last Night With Riviera, May 15, 2006
[In Keane,] an astonishing turn by Lewis and (literally) unflinching camerawork by John Foster reveal a man awash in crisis and catharsis, on the verge of genuinely knowing something. Like its namesake, Keane is a discovery worth making.
-- [article author unknown], The Reeler, May 18, 2006
[In Friends And Crocodiles,] Lewis impresses by conveying a greater air of the enigmatic with just one smirk than through any of the dialogue Poliakoff gives him.
-- Tom Russo, Boston Globe, May 28, 2006
Damian Lewis' devastating performance makes KEANE a riveting, complex and deeply humane experience.
-- [article author unknown], The Chortler, June 4, 2006
[In Keane,] Damian Lewis [is] committed and compelling as hell.
-- Kim Linekin (article author), Eye Weekly, June 15, 2006
Centred on the genuinely phenomenal turn of the 35-year-old British actor Lewis, whose performance is a marvel of quiet, subterranean turbulence, Keane is quite simply one of the finest films to appear this year.
-- Geoff Pevere (article author), Toronto Star, June 16, 2006
Keane [is] played in a bravado performance by Damian Lewis. ... Some aspects of this film, which debuted in 2004 and is only today getting its Toronto theatrical release, are simply astonishing. Lewis (Jennifer Lopez's abusive lover in An Unfinished Life) is utterly selfless here. He immerses himself so deeply in Keane's psyche and skin that you easily forget this is acting, not real life.
-- Bruce Kirkland (article author), Toronto Sun, June 16, 2006
[Keane] requires a virtuoso performance and British actor Damian Lewis provides it, relying on haunted looks and mumbled monosyllables to relay what the script does not. Those who saw him play the uptight and abusive Soames in television's 2001 remake of The Forsythe Saga will remember Lewis's uncanny ability to suggest a world of sexual and social frustrations by the mere retraction of his upper lip into his face. Here, the effect is particularly painful: As we watch Keane either relive his horror or attempt to drown it with tumblers of vodka, snorts of cocaine, blaring pop songs and anonymous sex, we begin to squirm as much as we suffer for him.
-- Kate Taylor (article author), The Globe And Mail, June 16, 2006
Yassen Gregorovich [in Stormbreaker is] brilliantly played by Damian Lewis.
-- Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreaker novelist and screenwriter), AnthonyHorowitz.com, June 23, 2006
[In Chromophobia,] Damian Lewis, so good in Band of Brothers and the haunting Keane, hits all the right notes as a relatively decent bloke in way over his head.
-- Erik Woidtke (article author), Film Hobbit, July 6, 2006
[Alex Pettyfer] has proved he can more than hold his own alongside Stormbreaker's illustrious cast, including Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Bill Nighy and Mickey Rourke. "In my eyes they are some of the best actors working today. It was fantastic to work with such a great cast and crew. I learned so much from them."
-- Eileen Condon (article author) and Alex Pettyfer (Stormbreaker co-star), Belfast Telegraph, July 16, 2006
AG: [In Stormbreaker] Damian Lewis plays your bad guy, and has to hang upside down from a helicopter on a couple of occasions. Was he literally hanging upside down?
GS: He was. We did that in Pinewood with the green screen behind him and we added the backgrounds later. He was up and down, up and down for about three hours. When we brought him back and straightened him out his face looked fairly odd for a while, like his skin had sagged. But he was game for it, he was another trooper. You couldn't really wish for a nicer cast than we had.
-- "A Gent" (article author, under a pun-pen-name!) and Geoffrey Sax (director of Stormbreaker), IOFilm, July 21, 2006
[In Much Ado About Nothing] the growing attraction of Beatrice and Benedick -- fanned by some mischievous intervention of their colleagues -- is delicately handled. And in the deft hands of Lewis and Parish, these scenes are a total delight. Parish delivers her zingers with tart relish, and the superb Lewis' discomfiture at Beatrice's jibes, and then his lovesick preening -- when he's told she secretly loves him -- are deliciously funny. Parish's subsequent softening is equally adept.
-- Harry Forbes (article author), Catholic News Service, July 24, 2006
William Keane [is] played with uncomfortable brilliance by Damian Lewis. ... Lewis infuses the role with pathos, punctuated by his swaying frame, confused face and swelling anger. He really is the film, never betraying Keane by softening the blow of his delivery.
-- Carolyn Nikodym, Vue Weekly, July 27, 2006
[In Keane,] Lewis (Jennifer Lopez's abusive lover in An Unfinished Life) is utterly selfless here. He immerses himself so deeply in Keane's psyche and skin that you easily forget this is acting, not real life.
-- Bruce Kirkland (article author), Edmonton Sun, July 28, 2006
The writer-director [of Keane] is helped no end by a truly magnificent performance from Lewis, on screen throughout as the camera's gaze -- unusually attentive to every potentially revealing detail, and as compassionate as it's curious with regard to its subject's frenzied state of mind -- follows him around a credibly downbeat, seemingly uncaring New York. In short, Kerrigan has created that rare thing: a truly American art-movie, at once pacy and punchy, profound and profoundly moving.
-- Geoff Andrew (article author), Soda Pictures, August 2, 2006
Lodge Kerrigan's long-awaited third feature is a compassionate, harrowing and beautifully filmed tale of a man searching for his missing daughter, with a magnificent central performance from Damian Lewis.
-- [article author unknown], British Film Institute / National Film Theatre, August 2, 2006
[Much Ado About Nothing is] a bright romantic comedy with two engaging stars, Damian Lewis and Sarah Parish.
-- Robert Bianco (article author), USA Today, August 3, 2006
[In Much Ado About Nothing,] Lewis is well cast as a likable rogue.
-- Brian Lowry (article author), Variety, August 3, 2006
Much Ado About Nothing stars Sarah Parish and Damian Lewis as feuding lovers Beatrice and Benedick, re-imagined as TV anchors. They're both wonderful, as are the zingy writing and the excellent supporting cast, but Lewis gets extra points for being willing to spoil his leading-man looks with a silly beard that gives his performance an even sharper comic edge.
-- Joanne Weintraub (article author), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 4, 2006
Damian Lewis is remarkable [in Keane].
-- [article author unknown], MySpace, August 9, 2006
I watched Damian in Band of Brothers, and he's clearly a remarkable actor in that, but there's nothing in his performance as Major Winters that is similar to the role of William Keane. The two are worlds apart. But in Band of Brothers, I could see how much control he had in his craft, how much presence he had. It was crucial for the actor playing Keane to convey the very real possibility that at some point in his past, Keane was a father and a good father. And what is remarkable to me is that Damian isn't a parent, and yet he was able to portray one so well, and he did that completely on his own. We didn't really have any discussions about what it is to be a parent, he just understood it.
-- Lodge Kerrigan (writer-director of Keane), MySpace, August 9, 2006
Damian Lewis gives a compelling performance and the themes brought out in Keane align with [Samaritans] volunteers' support work throughout the UK and Ireland.
-- David King (chief executive with Samaritans), Samaritans.org, August 25, 2006
[Damian Lewis'] heartbreaking William Keane is a self-destructive, guilt-ridden alcoholic, sweating, shuffling and mumbling through Manhattan's seamier side on a seemingly hopeless quest, the camera buzzing mere inches from Lewis's head as it tracks, in this writer's opinion, one of the best screen performances of the decade.
-- Leigh Singer (article author), The Big Issue, August 28, 2006
I think they're [Damian and Gareth are] really cute together actually. They are brothers in a really sweet sort of way. There's a lot of unspoken vocabulary between them. They collaborate absolutely with each other. Damian is a producer as well so there is a potential for conflict, but we've seen none of that.
-- Sean Bobbitt (director of photography of The Baker), Exposure, Summer 2006
I think we [Damian and I] were both looking forward to working together, but also a little apprehensive. We get on very well though like any other siblings we have bust-ups. But having said that, having lived together for as long as we did we can have those and move on. You just get on with it -- it's not terminal. We're quite close in age; there's only two years between us, so we're mates. I respect his work and, I think, he's coming to respect mine.
-- Gareth Lewis (Damian's brother, writer-director of The Baker), Exposure, Summer 2006
Together with Lewis' riveting central performance, much of Keane's power derives from its intensely naturalistic style.
-- Tom Dawson (article author), BBC, September 4, 2006
What's striking about Lewis is how much he manages to convey by doing so very little. There is stillness about him on screen, a faraway look that can evoke anger or desire or -- if you saw his rollicking performance as Benedict in BBC1's modern-day version of Much Ado about Nothing -- sheer hilarity. ... Among his generation of actors, no one does grief and repressed emotion so well. ... Lewis is a chameleon performer. ... Directors are missing a trick. Lewis can be powerfully erotic on screen. Tall and athletic, he looks like a man who instinctively understands why people should wish to look at him.
-- Liz Hoggard (article author), The Independent, September 9, 2006
In the title role [of Keane], Damian Lewis is brilliant and fearless. ... Lewis is eerily realistic in his performance. ... I think that's a testament to Lewis' performance, that the audience feels empathy for Keane instead of him being some one-dimensional wackjob.
-- "clydefro" (article author), Blogcritics.com, September 11, 2006
Damian Lewis brilliant in the starring role [in Keane]. ... Lewis's riveting, visceral performance of a man grappling with the effects of profound loss makes Keane a complex,deeply humane and unforgettable portrait.
-- [article author unknown], Gold Stream Gazette, September 13, 2006
[Keane is] played with harrowing intensity by Damian Lewis.
-- Tom Charity (article author), The Telegraph, September 15, 2006
[Keane] belongs to Lewis; he isn't just the core of this film, he is the film and Lewis takes the opportunity and runs with it. It's a role that screams Oscar but this isn't showy acting for the judges, it's a nuanced performance that is at once tragic and terrifying, with an ambiguity that asks us to question everything -- even whether he is a father. An understated but brilliant film that will, like Keane himself, will leave you re-examining the drama for days.
-- Justin Matlock (article author), Hornsey And Crouch End Journal, September 20, 2006
As played, indelibly, by Damian Lewis, the titular Keane appears both plausible and slightly mad -- the sort of fellow who might have been more or less sane until his daughter was stolen away.
-- Ken Eisner, Georgia Straight, September 21, 2006
In Kerrigan's remarkable Keane, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, the eponymous drifter, Damian Lewis, [is] astounding.
-- Leigh Singer (article author), BBC, September 21, 2006
If you want to see a superb performance, watch Damian Lewis in [Keane]. ... Keane allows us to share a harrowing feeling of loss not only through its unblinkingly bleak exterior but through the unforced playing of Lewis, whose damaged father may or may not be imagining the whole episode of abduction. ... Damian Lewis gives a masterly performance as a bereft father.
-- Derek Malcolm (article author), Evening Standard, September 21, 2006
There's no doubt Lewis, who plays a schizophrenic named William Keane, offers one of the most committed performances of recent times. If it was his breakthrough role as Major Winters in the ambitious Second World War mini-series Band of Brothers that brought him a Golden Globe nomination, then in an ideal world, this tragic tale of a man searching for his abducted daughter would afford him the Oscar equivalent.
-- James Mottram (article author), The Herald, September 22, 2006
When a film concentrates so much of its focus on a single character -- Keane is in every frame -- the strength of the performance is key. Damian Lewis begins at such an intense pitch that you wonder if he'll have anywhere to go for the remaining hour and a half. Nothing in Lewis's film career ... has approached the stature of his television performances in The Forsyte Saga and Band of Brothers -- until now, that is. Like De Niro in Taxi Driver (another lost soul wandering New York) Lewis creates a kind of heat around himself, the heat of someone in an exhausting and interminable argument with his own body. This purgatory of self-torment manifests itself in obvious ways, such as the raw scabs on his knuckles, and the moment he tells himself, "please, stop it"; but it's signalled, too, in the expressiveness of his mouth, which trembles or tightens to a slot, and in haunted eyes that suddenly brim with the sheer, bloody, hopelessness of being him. It's a quiet performance that speaks volumes -- a landmark. ... The phrase "I love you" has become as devalued in movies as "have a nice day" or "take care", to the point where it barely even registers anymore. The last words of this film are "I love you", and suddenly, miraculously, they come to life again. It's partly because Lodge Kerrigan has withheld so much, and partly because of two outstanding performances [from Damian Lewis and Abigail Breslin].
-- Anthony Quinn (article author), The Independent, September 22, 2006
[Keane] was worth the wait, as Lewis gives a superb performance of a man constantly on the brink of crashing and burning.
-- Gary Slaymaker (article author), Western Mail, September 22, 2006
The British actor Damian Lewis gives the performance of his career in this involving, compassionate picture [Keane] by US indie writer-director Lodge Kerrigan. ... Kerrigan's camera is in Keane's haunted face for almost every minute of the movie's running time, searching out every flicker of unease and tortured hope. As an actor, Damian Lewis has been stretched as never before, and gives an outstanding performance.
-- Peter Bradshaw (article author), The Guardian, September 22, 2006
Kerrigan's films tend to rely on the big performance, and they don't come much bigger than Lewis's [in Keane]. It's arresting and authentic.
-- Cosmo Landesman (article author), The Times, September 24, 2006
[Keane is] a tough film to watch, tense and worrying, not least because of Lewis's remarkable performance as a decent, caring man barely holding himself together.
-- Demetrios Matheou (article author), The Herald, September 24, 2006
[In Keane,] Damian Lewis excels as a frantic father. ... Lewis's Keane is like a pared-down version of Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, and is not diminished by the comparison.
-- Philip French (article author), The Observer, September 24, 2006
It's a smart move on Kerrigan's part to cast British actor Damian Lewis [as Keane]. ... Lewis is on screen practically every second -- Keane being the inescapable centre of his own cell-like universe -- and his performance is magnetically troubling. Photographed so close, every look, every emotional shift counts. He's also miked up close: we hear every mumble as Keane recounts his private running narrative of pain and confusion. If Kerrigan flouts the dramatic law that you should never have a character think aloud ("I gotta get some sleep, get some rest"), it's because the protective membrane has collapsed between Keane's mind and his actions. Lewis plays Keane like a radio tuned between stations, trying to find a coherent signal but mainly picking up his own inner cacophony. It makes sense that the film is being released in a tie-in with Samaritans: Keane is a sympathetic, revealing exploration of an area of experience that most of us, mercifully, never have to endure. It's a mesmerising piece, one of the great American films of recent years.
-- Jonathan Romney (article author), The Independent, September 24, 2006
William Keane [is] magnificently played by Damian Lewis. ... Keane's world sits on a knife edge between sanity and madness, and every scene is tainted with a gut-churning sense that he might blow it at any moment. He is conscious of his illness as much as he is consumed by it, and Damian Lewis captures this perfectly. In a lesser actor's hands the movie would fail, but Lewis imbues Keane with just the right amount of sympathetic characteristics for us to know that underneath his crushing madness he is a good person.
-- John Smithies (article author), Epoch Times, September 25, 2006
Keane, starring Damian Lewis (of Band of Brothers) as a soft-spoken man wounded to the soul by the abduction of his young daughter, is a remarkably compassionate portrait. When he slips out of control and turns obsessive and irrational -- leaping to impulsive conclusions, acting on delusional hunches, diving into benders of booze and cocaine -- we're scared of him. But when we see the look of panic on his face when he feels himself slip out of control, helpless to the power of his affliction, we're also scared for him. ... Damian Lewis gives a remarkable performance. ... He's kind of scary, but there's really no malice in him, just a helpless kind of anger. But when you start to see him lose control, his face registers the fact that things beyond his control are happening within him. And especially when he's with Kyra, you see the absolute fear of losing control because he has to be in control to protect her. It's an amazing sense of self-awareness that you don't expect to see in a character like that. ... Lewis's performance has such depth and complexity. He has an understanding of his own illness and he has an incredible fear of losing control. It took me by surprise because you really don't expect that kind of self-awareness in a character.
-- Sean Axmaker (article author), Green Cine, October 17, 2006
I think Damian gave a really remarkable performance, not only in that aspect [of the character's strong self-awareness], but in the range of emotions that he goes through in the story. He's really exceptionally talented. I cast him off of Band Of Brothers, the HBO series. I think a lot of times casting is very backward looking. I mean, beyond trying to cast stars, taking that off the table because the whole business is oriented towards trying to cast the biggest name. But once you get beyond that, then it becomes ... I think a lot of times, actors are cast because they've played similar roles in the past and I think that's very limiting. What I try to do is really to see the command they have with their craft, how talented they are, how charismatic, what presence they have, and the rest is very intuitive. There's nothing in the role of Major Winters that's even remotely similar to Keane. But I really believe that talented actors can play a wide, wide range of roles and most of them are really underutilized. What's interesting to me about the performance is how much weight he has. He's so heavy and worn down. When you see Damian in life, he's so different and people are taken aback sometimes, because they almost expect him to be older.
-- Lodge Kerrigan (writer-director of Keane), Green Cine, October 17, 2006
[In Keane,] the viewer's suspicions and doubts are entirely wrapped up in Lewis' raw, harrowing embodiment of a character concurrently amped up (he's almost never still) and wiped out. We know this man is every bit as lost as his daughter, and fear he may be capable of some untold terror. He is too wounded, too hungry and alone. Perhaps he means to use Kira as bait, or to snatch her away himself? Kerrigan withholds so much that the question insinuates itself -- did he even have a daughter in the first place? The tension is there all right, but Lewis also supplies the movie's saving grace: the way Keane, with Kira's mother absent for a day, makes the girl eat up her meal before dessert, teaches her numbers, washes her hair. Keane's gentle care proffers some hint of salvation, so that this dark, 'difficult' film may end on a declaration of love.
-- Tom Charity (article author), Sight & Sound, October 2006
Lewis' performance [in Keane] is fearless -- the stuff that awards should be made of.
-- Cory Mailliard (article author), FOFR, November 29, 2006
Both Clean, Shaven and Keane rely on committed, career-best work from their leading actors. Damian Lewis gives a phenomenal performance [in Keane] that should have gained him an Oscar nomination had this film been more widely shown. Given that he's onscreen almost throughout, it's a demanding role, but he carries it off superbly: Keane's desperation and his on-the-edge lifestyle are manifest in Lewis's face. ... Kerrigan's films take you places out of your normal comfort zone, but they reward the searching out. Keane is just such a film, which showcases a commanding performance from Damian Lewis.
-- Gary Couzens (article author), DVD Times, December 3, 2006
His visceral performance [in Keane] as a man on the verge of insanity, captured in long, hand-held close-ups, was the bravest acting job this year. ... Superbly acted and shot with an intimacy and urgency that's all but disappeared from American cinema, Keane was an invigorating and electrifying experience.
-- Matt Riviera (article author), Last Night With Riviera, December 23, 2006
[In Keane,] plot is secondary to Damian Lewis' astonishing performance in the title role.
-- Adam Nayman (article author), Eye Weekly, December 28, 2006
Keane: Although finished in 2004, Lodge Kerrigan's intimately unsettling study of a schizophrenic (Damian Lewis) obsessed with finding the daughter he believes was abducted in a New York subway station, took two years to get even the most meager of local commercial releases. But who ever called this business fair? Nevertheless, Keane -- the name of the man doomed to constantly relive that terrible moment -- would be a uniformly engrossing experience whenever it was released. With a fiercely convincing central performance (by the terrific British actor Lewis), a terrifying, first-person evocation of madness and a devastating conclusion that merely hints at the possibility of recovery, this is a terrific movie that deserved much better.
-- Geoff Pevere (article author), Toronto Star, December 29, 2006
Damian Lewis' performance as a broken man in Lodge Kerrigan's unnerving drama [Keane] is utterly remarkable, making you fear him amidst the empathy you feel for him as he begins a friendship with a six year old girl played by Abigail Breslin (also excellent in the otherwise disappointing Little Miss Sunshine), while grief stricken over the abduction of his own daughter.
-- [article author unknown], Pop DVD, December 29, 2006
Kudos to Kate Dickie in "Red Road" and Damian Lewis in "Keane" for the rawest, most committed and ultimately most transcendent performances of the year.
-- Adam Dawtrey (article author), Variety, December 31, 2006
Among the best performances [of 2006]:... Damian Lewis for his unravelling loner in Lodge Kerrigan's Keane.
-- Jonathan Romney (article author), The Independent, December 31, 2006
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