← Back to Reviews
in
Director: Tony Kaye
Detachment is the story of a substitute teacher (Brody) in an inner city neighborhood. He wants to make a difference but at the same time is dealing with some inner demons of his own. When he lands at a school where the faculty is as disillusioned as the students, things begin to unravel at an alarming pace.
Detachment is trying very hard to be the antithesis of films such as Lean On Me and Dangerous Minds. It succeeds on every level but I am not sure if that is such a good thing. In trying to be so dire and so grounded in reality much of the film becomes unbelievable. Detachment introduces us to so many relationships and story threads it is hard to attach yourself emotionally. I feel Detachment would be a better film if it narrowed its focus on just a couple of the many threads that it is juggling. There are a couple of story lines that feel authentic and I feel this would be a much better film if it had developed them more instead of throwing more and more ugliness at us.
Detachment is not a bad film but it is a frustrating one because it feels like it is on the cusp of being great. The film has an outstanding cast and each and everyone is doing good work. This movie also looks amazing. Kaye makes plenty of visually artistic decisions and they all worked for me. The static shots of empty school halls are especially memorable. The closing shot of this film is also poignant and well conceived. Detachment is also unflinching in its view, the problem becomes that its view loses credibility with how it concludes some of the characters stories.
Detachment wants you to know that our education system is broken in many ways, got it. Detachment wants you to know that our family unit is broken in many ways, got it. Detachment wants you to know that if we don't fix these issues this dangerous cycle will continue, got it. The problem is as ambitious as this film is I will not think about this film or any of its characters when pondering these things because Detachment fell short of making me connect with those themes.
Director: Tony Kaye
Detachment is the story of a substitute teacher (Brody) in an inner city neighborhood. He wants to make a difference but at the same time is dealing with some inner demons of his own. When he lands at a school where the faculty is as disillusioned as the students, things begin to unravel at an alarming pace.
Detachment is trying very hard to be the antithesis of films such as Lean On Me and Dangerous Minds. It succeeds on every level but I am not sure if that is such a good thing. In trying to be so dire and so grounded in reality much of the film becomes unbelievable. Detachment introduces us to so many relationships and story threads it is hard to attach yourself emotionally. I feel Detachment would be a better film if it narrowed its focus on just a couple of the many threads that it is juggling. There are a couple of story lines that feel authentic and I feel this would be a much better film if it had developed them more instead of throwing more and more ugliness at us.
Detachment is not a bad film but it is a frustrating one because it feels like it is on the cusp of being great. The film has an outstanding cast and each and everyone is doing good work. This movie also looks amazing. Kaye makes plenty of visually artistic decisions and they all worked for me. The static shots of empty school halls are especially memorable. The closing shot of this film is also poignant and well conceived. Detachment is also unflinching in its view, the problem becomes that its view loses credibility with how it concludes some of the characters stories.
Detachment wants you to know that our education system is broken in many ways, got it. Detachment wants you to know that our family unit is broken in many ways, got it. Detachment wants you to know that if we don't fix these issues this dangerous cycle will continue, got it. The problem is as ambitious as this film is I will not think about this film or any of its characters when pondering these things because Detachment fell short of making me connect with those themes.