Best known for his hard-hitting debut feature, 1998’s American History X, music video director-turned-filmmaker Tony Kaye has only made a small number of films since his auspicious first. The 2006 black and white abortion documentary Lake of Fire garnered high praise from critics, while Black Water Transit — a Katrina drama starring Laurence Fishburne — never even got a theatrical release.
His next film, Detachment, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is an examination of this country’s educational system told through the eyes of a vagabond substitute teacher — played by Adrien Brody — who avoids getting attached to his students. The trailer has some signature Kaye stylistic moves, and the cinematography looks fantastic. In any other directors hands this kind of a movie could play out like a bad Dangerous Minds remake, but hopefully Kaye‘s intensity hasn’t dulled and Detachment will deliver a compelling modern look at our seriously flawed education system.
Watch the new trailer below:
Also starring Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, James Caan, Marcia Gay Harden, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Blythe Danner, Tim Blake Nelson, William Petersen, and Bryan Cranston, Detachment will open in limited release on March 16th.
What do you think of this trailer? Are you happy to see Kaye make a return to narrative filmmaking?