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Rating:
"I have never felt so deeply detached from myself and so present in the world at the same time."
(Albert Camus)
Alienation in the urbanism of hypocrisies and fears. Inability to relate due to the new "standards" that have now channeled aesthetics to a supreme level of defining human nature. "The holocaust of marketing" that works to "destroy our brain," in a continuous operation that generates prejudice, social exclusion, marginalization. These are the broad themes Tony Kaye decides to place at the center of his "Detachment" (2011), which appeared more than ten years after "American History X," Kaye's debut feature film. In between, the documentary "Lake Of Fire" (2006) and "Black Water Transit," still unreleased in Italy.
Kaye delves into this maze of themes by bringing to the screen the parable of various characters, all in some way connected to the substitute teacher Henry (an excellent Adrien Brody): his being a substitute doesn't allow him to establish a lasting relationship with the students, but it's a path of transit, a small step in the lives of those kids. For Kaye, today's society is deeply ill, undermined at the base of fundamental certainties. The figure of the very young prostitute Erica (Sami Gayle) is the representation of all this: she bursts into Henry's life as the "usual" figure of the American "external enemy," but this time she is not fought against but rather accepted and understood in her difficulties. But Kaye's is especially a political/cultural film: to start thinking again, to "preserve our mind" from the illogical nature of the current world. The character of Professor Henry is the vehicle through which the director makes this concept explicit. He will try to convey these "messages" to his students, those at a school attended by the schizoid misfits of the American countryside. Parallel to this general thematic thread, Kaye's film divides into various subplots, including Henry's past. The ghosts of what once was and can never be erased: memories of the deceased mother rendered through suggestive flashbacks with a vaguely dreamlike flavor reminiscent of Lynch. Notable, always under a visual and "photographic" aspect, is the presence of chalkboard animations that permeate the fabric of the film.
I don't think "Detachment" is a film that truly deserves 4 stars. Also because Kaye's work has its flaws. The sudden turn in the Henry/Erica relationship, which appears as a script defect, doesn't work. It's not convincing that the film lingers on a cosmic pessimism and that the only figures touched by it are the teachers, as if Kaye were afraid to encompass more in his film discourse. That said, I want to clarify that my rating is raised for a simple (and very personal) vision of cinema: beyond being purely an aesthetic and visual medium, I believe cinema must also be able to convey emotions. In its own small way, "Detachment" succeeds with violence and delicacy.
(Albert Camus)
Alienation in the urbanism of hypocrisies and fears. Inability to relate due to the new "standards" that have now channeled aesthetics to a supreme level of defining human nature. "The holocaust of marketing" that works to "destroy our brain," in a continuous operation that generates prejudice, social exclusion, marginalization. These are the broad themes Tony Kaye decides to place at the center of his "Detachment" (2011), which appeared more than ten years after "American History X," Kaye's debut feature film. In between, the documentary "Lake Of Fire" (2006) and "Black Water Transit," still unreleased in Italy.
Kaye delves into this maze of themes by bringing to the screen the parable of various characters, all in some way connected to the substitute teacher Henry (an excellent Adrien Brody): his being a substitute doesn't allow him to establish a lasting relationship with the students, but it's a path of transit, a small step in the lives of those kids. For Kaye, today's society is deeply ill, undermined at the base of fundamental certainties. The figure of the very young prostitute Erica (Sami Gayle) is the representation of all this: she bursts into Henry's life as the "usual" figure of the American "external enemy," but this time she is not fought against but rather accepted and understood in her difficulties. But Kaye's is especially a political/cultural film: to start thinking again, to "preserve our mind" from the illogical nature of the current world. The character of Professor Henry is the vehicle through which the director makes this concept explicit. He will try to convey these "messages" to his students, those at a school attended by the schizoid misfits of the American countryside. Parallel to this general thematic thread, Kaye's film divides into various subplots, including Henry's past. The ghosts of what once was and can never be erased: memories of the deceased mother rendered through suggestive flashbacks with a vaguely dreamlike flavor reminiscent of Lynch. Notable, always under a visual and "photographic" aspect, is the presence of chalkboard animations that permeate the fabric of the film.
I don't think "Detachment" is a film that truly deserves 4 stars. Also because Kaye's work has its flaws. The sudden turn in the Henry/Erica relationship, which appears as a script defect, doesn't work. It's not convincing that the film lingers on a cosmic pessimism and that the only figures touched by it are the teachers, as if Kaye were afraid to encompass more in his film discourse. That said, I want to clarify that my rating is raised for a simple (and very personal) vision of cinema: beyond being purely an aesthetic and visual medium, I believe cinema must also be able to convey emotions. In its own small way, "Detachment" succeeds with violence and delicacy.
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