Detachment Review
Tony Kaye (American History X) returns with this solid docu-drama look at teachers within the American school system. Adrien Brody heads up a very imperssive list of names (Marsia Gay harden, Lucy Lui, James Caan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks) as a group of teachers dealing with a broad variety of issues in and out of the school system.
The largely disruptive kids are just one of many hurdles that teaches have to deal with in as calm as manner as possible. Brody’s character gets his fair share, and yet even out of hours he is finding time to connect to others including a dying father and a very young prostitute.
Brody keeps his character highly sympathetic despite a very troubled past and very few close relationships in his life. His sad face still manages to bring so much hope to the disparate figures around him. But even so the film dares to pose the idea that there may not even be much hope in his actions.
James Caan can almost steals the entire film with a couple of truly hilarious scenes with some of his more disruptive students, but this is aided largely by the fact that the rest of the film is so serious. Many of the supporting cast have a couple of key scenes throughout to highlight various problems, and it is to their credit that they have seen the worth of taking on such small roles. But it is Brody who really does have to carry the weight of the narrative.
Some may find the film a bit too depressing and doesn’t have enough moments of levity; but Kaye balances the sombre tone of the film well with enough style, narrative and well-rounded characters to at detain your attention until the end.
Steven Hurst