Detachment

Tony Kaye directed and also shot the film himself. In an interview he says the writer, Carl Lund, had worked as a teacher, and that Adrien Brody came aboard a couple of weeks before shooting, at which point Kaye decided to hang the whole film on him. Kaye says Lund’s first draft had been an ensemble piece. Kaye says footage of Harden and Cranston that was shot but not used still sits on his hard drives, and that he would like to assemble a longer cut. Anyone reading the crowded poster as an ensemble picture will find the weight gathered on Brody. It opens with black and white interviews with teachers, then cuts in brief animated snippets and sepia flashbacks to childhood, with the film stock shifting. Shooting took place at two schools in Mineola on Long Island. It screened at Tribeca in April 2011 and did not reach American cinemas until March 2012. At Deauville it took both the Revelation prize and the International Critics prize, and at Tokyo it shared the Best Artistic Contribution award with Kora. A good fit if you want a collage broken up by teacher testimony rather than a straight school drama. Not for viewers who expect a suicide to stay off screen; this one happens at school, during a break.