“Detached” is a bleak, dark drama about the decline of the education system in the U.S. Well-acted and directed, the downbeat tone is a little redundant and heavy-handed, but it has a handful of good messages and a superb performance from Oscar winner Adrien Brody, in his strongest role in several years. “Detached” is a chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students in an endangered school through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Brody). His unusual method of importing information to his temporary students finds some challenges when he has an upheaval in his personal life. “Detached” is a depressing but well-acted drama from Tony Kaye, who tread similar issues in his best known film, “American History X.” “Detached” is much less divisive and low-key than that film, and focuses more on the educational system. The low-budget film is filled with many veteran, talented actors in small parts, including Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Bryan Cranston, William Peterson, Tim Blake Nelson, which is unfortunate since the most memorable actors outside of Brody are relative unknowns, Sami Gayle as a young prostitute and director Kaye’s daughter Betty as an overweight, verbally abused student. While “Detached” is a decent film, it strays in too many directions without a clear focus; plus, it doesn’t exactly encourage to be a teacher. Brody is great, but the material is too depressing and lacks clarity.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Detachment - C+
Unrated, 97 minutes
“Detached” is a bleak, dark drama about the decline of the education system in the U.S. Well-acted and directed, the downbeat tone is a little redundant and heavy-handed, but it has a handful of good messages and a superb performance from Oscar winner Adrien Brody, in his strongest role in several years. “Detached” is a chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students in an endangered school through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Brody). His unusual method of importing information to his temporary students finds some challenges when he has an upheaval in his personal life. “Detached” is a depressing but well-acted drama from Tony Kaye, who tread similar issues in his best known film, “American History X.” “Detached” is much less divisive and low-key than that film, and focuses more on the educational system. The low-budget film is filled with many veteran, talented actors in small parts, including Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Bryan Cranston, William Peterson, Tim Blake Nelson, which is unfortunate since the most memorable actors outside of Brody are relative unknowns, Sami Gayle as a young prostitute and director Kaye’s daughter Betty as an overweight, verbally abused student. While “Detached” is a decent film, it strays in too many directions without a clear focus; plus, it doesn’t exactly encourage to be a teacher. Brody is great, but the material is too depressing and lacks clarity.
“Detached” is a bleak, dark drama about the decline of the education system in the U.S. Well-acted and directed, the downbeat tone is a little redundant and heavy-handed, but it has a handful of good messages and a superb performance from Oscar winner Adrien Brody, in his strongest role in several years. “Detached” is a chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students in an endangered school through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Brody). His unusual method of importing information to his temporary students finds some challenges when he has an upheaval in his personal life. “Detached” is a depressing but well-acted drama from Tony Kaye, who tread similar issues in his best known film, “American History X.” “Detached” is much less divisive and low-key than that film, and focuses more on the educational system. The low-budget film is filled with many veteran, talented actors in small parts, including Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Bryan Cranston, William Peterson, Tim Blake Nelson, which is unfortunate since the most memorable actors outside of Brody are relative unknowns, Sami Gayle as a young prostitute and director Kaye’s daughter Betty as an overweight, verbally abused student. While “Detached” is a decent film, it strays in too many directions without a clear focus; plus, it doesn’t exactly encourage to be a teacher. Brody is great, but the material is too depressing and lacks clarity.
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