'Keane,' Shaven: Soderbergh Trims Kerrigan Gem For DVD
This is interesting: The Washington Post reports (via Cinematical) that the recent DVD release of Lodge Kerrigan’s masterful Keane contains an alternate edit of the film by its executive producer Steven Soderbergh.
The Oscar-winner, to whom Kerrigan evidently sent his own cut before locking picture in 2004, “loved the film and told [Kerrigan] so, but I also sent him this version to look at, in case it jogged anything (it didn’t). In any case, we agreed it was an interesting (to us) example of how editing affects intent. Or something.”
The Post’s Michael O’Sullivan continues:
Despite being 15 minutes shorter than the already lean, 94-minute theatrical version, Soderbergh’s cut belies the cliche of the producer breathing down the director’s neck to make the film more “accessible.” Though the sequence of events has been pretty radically reshuffled — it’s a measure of the film’s open-ended, character-driven narrative that no sense is particularly lost or gained — neither version caters to what you might call multiplex tastes.
Rather, the changes affect subtler things such as pacing, style and mood — in short, the poetry — of what is already a very poetic piece. Soderbergh’s version, for instance, waits nearly a half-hour before revealing the nature of William’s search, while Kerrigan’s film introduces the character’s quest (perhaps delusional, as we discover) in the film’s first minutes.
I guess this is the part where I should say that you can ask Kerrigan all about it this spring at the Pioneer Theater, where The Reeler will be launching its “Reeler Presents” screening series May 20. Kerrigan will be on hand for a talk-show style Q&A and podcast with my colleagues Lawrence Levi (Looker, The Film Snob’s Dictionary) and Karina Longworth (Cinematical). More details will follow here, but if I am allowed to assign homework beforehand, I think this new edit might be Priority A.
After a demanding viewing of the original cut, I braved a look at Soderbergh’s version. In addition to the differences between the two already noted in your main entry, I would add that Soderbergh front-loads the film with many of Kerrigan’s most vivid, upsetting images, starting with Keane catching some sleep in the most restless of settings: a highway medium strip drenched in rain, with trucks and busses roaring by. Contrast this with Kerrigan’s initial image: the cold geometry of the Port Authority bus terminal exterior.