Detachment is a dark and dreary film about a
substitute teacher who lands himself a position teaching English at a hardcore,
inner-city public school, hoping to inspire our troubled youth. Oscar-winning
actor, Adrian Brody, delivers an edgy performance as the protagonist, Henry
Barthes. Barthes drifts from school to school, avoiding any sentimental
attachments to both faculty and students. In the course of the all-too-familiar
narrative—the out-of-place teacher trying to make a difference—Barthes consoles
his most promising, artistic student and offers shelter to a teenage
prostitute, Erica, played to near perfection by newcomer Sami Gayle.
The grim
affect of the film’s blatantly melodramatic handling divided my reaction. I was
quite impressed with director Tony Kaye's gritty visual grammar, but the bleak
tone and calculated turn of events left an all-around icky taste in my mouth.
The writer hammers the audience with the obvious, dark literary references of
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” mixed with footage of the protagonist
rambling on about his existential role in a doomed society. Don’t get me wrong;
I hold a special place for the dark and disturbed, but the cynical material is
too stuffy and over-dramatic for its own good.
If you want to watch a film about
the cold existence of a main character, checkout Michael Fassbinder as a sex
addict in the raw and powerful Shame
(2011). Although I agree with the
filmmakers’ social and political outcry, regarding the public education
system—elite, bureaucratic, and more concerned with the income bracket of their
students, than the students themselves—I wanted to see a glimmer of light.
Unfortunately, darkness prevails in Detachment.
There’s always a spot of hope for our slacker generation; someone or something
can be saved, but the writer refuses to see the opposite side of the spectrum.
Sure, teenage prostitution, bullying, rape, drug use, and let’s not forget, bad
teachers can gravely affect our youth, but when we see that there’s no other
way except downhill, it’s hard to care about the characters, no matter how
great the performances are.
Detachment
is a little film, made on a tight budget, utilizing a wandering, hand-held
camera. Conversely, the material, script and director attracted an A-list cast,
including Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Tim Blake Nelson, Lucy Liu and Blythe
Danner. This is Tony Kaye’s second big directorial effort since the classic,
neo-Nazi morality tale, American History
X (1998). The director employs various old-school film techniques, such as
hand-cranked fast motion, over-exposure, assorted film stocks, black-and-white
and 16 mm footage, and elementary stop-motion animation. It’s refreshing to see
a modern film utilize practical in-camera effects to help unfold the narrative.
To some extent, this back-to-basic technique emphasizes the richness of film
itself, rather than indulging in the digital revolution.
Detachment delves in the protagonist traumatic back-story, exhibiting snippets of
16 mm footage of the teacher as a boy. These images explain why he chooses to both extend
and retract his hand to those in need, but sometimes, it’s more stimulating to
hide the reasoning, and let the audience use their intelligence and
imagination. The high school melodrama, seen through the eyes of the dysfunctional
faculty, grabbed my attention, but with a top-notch cast and sharp director, I
expected more from the script’s final draft.
** ½ (out of four stars)
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