Director: Tony Kaye
Cast: Adrian Brody, Sami Gayle, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gaye Harden, Lucy Liu, Blythe Danner, Tim Blake Nelson, William Petersen, Bryan Cranston, Betty Kaye, Louis Zorich
Running time: 98 minutes
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Henry (Brody) is a substitute teacher who remians purposefully detached from his family, students and colleagues. But Henry is forced to interact with those around him after taking in a teenager (Sami Gayle) from the streets and realising that caring can be a powerful tool…
DETACHMENT is Tony Kaye’s first effort since AMERICAN HISTORY X (1998), a film he disowned despite its status as a modern classic. He even attempted to sue New Line Cinema and the Director’s Guild of America for not allowing him to remove his name from the credits. Kaye’s objections stemmed from an accusation that Edward Norton had edited the film to give himself more screen time. There is no such controversy surrounding DETACHMENT – so is this a better representation of Kaye’s talent?
This is an incredibly difficult film to review; it is a huge mishmash of different themes and styles that don’t always gel together. On the one hand we have an astonishingly moving character study of Henry Barthes (Adrian Brody), the substitute teacher that breezes in and just tries to get the job done before moving on. Barthes has no real emotional connection to his job and this suits him just fine. No surprise, since he also has to deal with his Alzheimer’s-suffering grandfather, and a teenage prostitute he has taken in. The look at Barthes’s life outside of school is very emotional. Brody gives his best performance yet, as a complex man who battles with demons from the past as well as his seeming inability to influence the future. Sami Gayle plays teen prostitute Erica; a young girl kicked around by life. The chemistry between Gayle and Brody is immeasurable. It starts off shaky, but soon Barthes is caring for Erica, in a way he probably wishes he could reach all of his students.
Conversely, the film is an indictment of the American education system. The supporting cast of big name actors are merely used for sudden and swift vignettes detailing how hard life is for these teachers. Christina Hendricks is threatened with gang rape, Lucy Liu loses her temper as the school’s doctor, Tim Blake Nelson arrives home to a family that fail to acknowledge him, and so forth. These moments are not necessarily bad, they are just heavy handed and preachy. During parent teacher conference night none of the parents show up. This is something that could have been conveyed with just visuals, but we are treated to dialogue such as ‘Where are all the parents?’ and ‘Remember when we’d have two parents at a time?’ The narrative is also plagued by short disposable scenes that are arguably very interesting in their own right, but have no bearing on the plot and are never mentioned again.
As Kaye points the finger of blame at everyone – including teachers, students, parents, society, and the government – he fails to offer any real resolution or suggestions. It simply yells at you without anything constructive to say. As the film comes to a close he pulls out the most obvious and tactless way of ending a character piece devoid of a real plot. It’s unnecessary and confusing in its message.
The film isn’t all doom and gloom though. Kaye is smart enough to interject these very depressing and disturbing moments with brief glimpses of joy and humour. James Caan is responsible for most of the laughs as a teacher who uses bluntness and comedy to get his points across. However, Caan’s moments are few and far between. He’s not the only victim of limited time on screen. CSI’s William Petersen stands in the background and gets to break up one fight. I get the distinct impression that Kaye was making two films. One was the intimate look at Brody’s Barthes, while the other film was an ensemble examination of the lives of teachers in a rundown school.
Add to this the artistic choices made throughout, including a running monologue from Barthes to an unseen interviewer, scenes interrupted with black and white still photography, and chalkboard animations; you start to understand why an actor would take the final edit away from Kaye. There’s certainly enough to recommend this film on, but like the students shown throughout, with more focus on what it actually wanted to be and the correct guidance, it could have been something special.
DETACHMENT is released in UK cinemas 13th July
