Movie #852 "Detachment" --- well, this was another one tough to watch, esp. for a teacher, since it is about a substitute teacher. It's not a movie you will understand everything that happens, but know that going into it............you have to piece stuff together. Brody is taping his memoirs, so he goes back in time...........he writes in a composition book --- it works for him to "feel" more about life through his writing, so he tries to give these composition books to everyone he tries to get close to, so they can also "feel" more --- but it doesn't work that way for everyone. Wow! When I look back, all the people in the film, including Brody, have baggage.............no one has an easy life. So as a teacher, I hurt so much watching these kids struggling. I'm not sure why the film didn't follow his successes in the classroom, but followed one failure and one success OUTSIDE of class, but that was the writer/director's plan, I guess. I wanted to see more IN the classroom --- and how he reached the kids, when so many others don't (and oh, there's an array of actors playing the rest of the faculty, including Lucy Liu (who has a wonderful scene in here where she just loses it with a kid who doesn't seem to care!), Blythe Danner, James Caan, Bryan Cranston, William Petersen, Christina Hendricks, Tim Blake Nelson, and principal Marcia Gay Harden. All the teachers seem beaten down by the kids and so they feel nothing but "detachment" --- a bitter pill to take every day going in to work. The film wallows more in what happened to him and his childhood and why he is the way HE is, instead of what's going on in the school. For that reason, I think a majority of people watching this might think that all schools run this way, so I wouldn't recommend it to them. But if you are interested in seeing the woes of inner-city schools, and one individual teacher trying to help, then this might serve you right. It is an individual character study of someone who "feels" detached but knows it is wrong to be that way as a teacher, as a human being, esp. one who works with kids. He learns the value of mentoring, even if his life hasn't been stellar.
Detachment2011NR97 minutes I give this 3 stars out of 5.
When a substitute teacher takes a new assignment at an inner-city school, he finds himself becoming involved in the lives of his colleagues and students. At home, he houses a young prostitute and meditates on what happened to his mother.
- Cast:
- Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Blythe Danner, Tim Blake Nelson, William Petersen, Bryan Cranston, Sami Gaye, Betty Kaye, Louis Zorich
- Genre:
- Indie Dramas, Drama
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