Review of Detachment (2011) by Mike C — 18 Apr 2013

In the morning, I may think this was a lame-o movie. Right now, I'm just sad. I watch a lot of movies but few have made me this sad. As a TIME reviewer said, "Everywhere you turn in Detachment, someone is trying to make you feel like hell." It's true. Well-received at film festivals, it's less liked by critics but has a solid 7.6 rating on imdb.

It's depressing as hell. Quite a cast for this type of movie...really names throughout. Still, it's the young and inexperienced Sami Gayle who really steals the show. At first, I thought she would just be another lame prostitute character. She really turned into a great, great, moving character. Really a top-notch performance.

I can see why the critics don't like the movie for its "wallow in dime-store despair," but there is a lot of truth to what is being said, even if the circumstances are a little shallow/overdone/cliche. Brody returns to prime form, finally, as a bleeding heart sub teacher. But there is a lot of truth in that character who is unhappy but tries to accept others. Not a fan of Lucy Liu, and her big scene I thought was going to be horrible, but she basically said what I was thinking earlier while watching the movie...it's easy to be callous. It takes character and courage to care.

There are a couple great scenes. Really, a lot of them involving Gayle are great, but especially near the end. She if she doesn't rip your heart to shreds. Then Brody's handling of the final traumatic event. There is a certain touching of the face that I thought was just damn perfect. So all-in-all, it's a helluva downer flick. If you look at it on the surface, maybe it's much ado about nothing. But look at the characters and their interactions and it becomes a very true story about a very mean world and the struggle to survive in that world.