Review of Detachment (2011) by Francisco G — 25 Nov 2012

Tony Kaye surely likes to put a salty finger onto a wound and stay there for a while.

His intentions are generally good but the execution is all over the place.

Detachment is affecting, raw, angry, has something relevant to say but most of the times, doesn't know how to. There's tremendous detail on the lead character and on some of his manerisms, courtesy of an inspired script and another winning performance from Brody. Some secondary characters are only around for a while but cause a big impact while others I just didn't understood why they were there in the first place (Bryan Cranston, it's always a pleasure to see you, but what were you doing here exacly?).

The episodic editing sometimes is great, others it's repetitive, others is nauseating with an avalanche of 8mm hipster footage of a lost childhood. The chalk animations sometimes work but most of the times don't. The interviews... errrr, could've been avoided but Brody is excellent in them and so on and so on.

Knows exacly what it's saying and it's a tricky thread and topic to walk around but the execution leaves much to be desired. Too many hipsterisms going on. A simpler, more classical approach to a very complex topic should've been the way to go but it's still a very engaging and brutal ride that everyone should see and learn something from it in the process.