MovieChat Forums > Detention (2012) Discussion > Intelligent film masquerading as trash

Intelligent film masquerading as trash

posted 12 years ago by answermehere
40 replies | jump to latest

I'm surprised by how many people on here failed to understand this film.
This is not a movie for your typical slasher fan - this is a movie for true cinema nerds who've seen lots and lots of films in many styles. It plays with genre in a way that few other films do - the closest thing I'd compare it to is Donnie Darko, but it's much more irreverent and "meta" than that film, or maybe "Cabin in the Woods" but it's much funnier and creative than that film.

What may be confusing people is that it acts as if it's a teen movie, when it's actually a commentary on teen movies. It looks sloppy and ADD, and that's intentional. Joseph Kahn the director has made some awesome films, and he's an opinionated student of film. Listen to him discuss this film on one of the podcasts he's taken part in, and you're likely to re-evaluate this movie.

[–] Evil_Flip 12 years ago

I am a true cinema nerd and I think this movie is a piece of sh!t.

[–] karladrea 12 years ago

I'm also a true cinema geek. I think this is an experimental, but mostly successful piece of commentary/satire on modern teen life and teen movies, if not, all movies within the last decade.

[–] jamvetzal 10 years ago

exactly how i feel, it's only being stupid to make fun of everything, perfect satire.
nobody got it apparently

[–] Diagoro 10 years ago

nobody? How about the person above you, and below you? Most people are morons, true story.

Another brilliant post Steinberg...

[–] ChefC 12 years ago

Personally I think it was obvious what the intention of the film was, but it just simply failed due to editing.

It was all over the place and incoherent, and not in an intentional manner.

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Gone too soon:
Firefly
New Amsterdam
Journeyman
Life
terriers
SGU
Prime Suspect

[–] karladrea 12 years ago

I think it was intentionally messy. For example, the scene where we follow Elliot Fink, then suddenly to Ione and Sloane, and then Vergeentered his backstory enters out of nowhere is so messy and unfocused, it's an intentional style meant to parallel the whole "ADD" nature of teenagers today.

[–] ChefC 12 years ago

I respect your opinion but sadly disagree.

-------
Gone too soon:
Firefly
New Amsterdam
Journeyman
Life
terriers
SGU
Prime Suspect

[–] karladrea 12 years ago

Complete understandable, this is definately not a movie for everyone.

[–] ChefC 12 years ago

Well, that could be said for any movie :)

I will say this however, by the end the film had won me over to an extent, I enjoyed what it attempted to do, and can't help but think if it had been reigned in somewhat, it could have been rather successful. It had a nice style and 'feel' and I enjoyed many of the pop culture references, it was well acted and the script was tolerable.

What was meant to be a bit 'all over the place', went way too far however, and although the underlying style was solid, the execution was poor.

-------
Gone too soon:
Firefly
New Amsterdam
Journeyman
Life
terriers
SGU
Prime Suspect

[–] karladrea 12 years ago

Lol, that's true, no movie has a perfect universal appeal. And I agree, the acting was solid (particularly from Shanley Caswell and Spencer Locke), the humor was often clever, and the director certainly knows how to reel the viewer in. But, from the ppl I've shown the film to who dislike it, the movie loses them once we get the more over-the-top plot points.

It's a movie that takes huge risks halfway through. I even remember leaving the theater after I saw it, wondering whether or not I actually liked it. Gradually, it won me over as well, but to a farther extent than it did for you, I suppose. Still, we can agree he film's ambition and energy is refreshing, considering a lot of films these days barely seem interested in conveying any kind of message or emotion to its audience.

[–] Psychological_Gold 12 years ago

Yeah, a lot of movies these days are shallow and obvious. Detention clearly went in the opposite direction, but it went overboard. It's the cinematic equivalent of having a bunch of teenagers talking endlessly into your ear for 90 straight minutes. Once in a while, it seems clever, but most of the time it's just obnoxious.

[–] salmo365 12 years ago

I agree entirely with most of these comments.

The film was trying something that is to be commended, unfortunately they over cooked it, but I still can appreciate it for the attempt. Sure it was tough and difficult to digest, but I'd much rather this than most of the rubbish that is boiled free of all its nutrients, liquidized and spoon fed to audiences who don't like to think.

[–] Jded_n 12 years ago

Yes. The direction style run in parallel to depicted culture right from scene one. This was most of the point of having this scene, IMO.

[–] starcraftbw88 12 years ago

Film was not good, Cabin in the Woods was much better.

[–] coolestdudearoundeng 12 years ago

I am a true nerd for films, and i thought it was one of the worst movies i have seen.

[–] Arcadia1981 12 years ago

I loved the movie but the part with the bear time traveling was a bit much to me

You Just Killed a Helicopter with a Car! Yeah, well, I was out of bullets.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] XtululuahX 12 years ago

Yeah I am the same... I had to watch it twice to see if I liked it. I have to say I'm rather impulsive with movies too so I tend to know what I like but this one left me thinking a bit. I liked that about it though. I liked you had to pay attention to the little details and like someone said earlier it didn't spoon feed. But I think it knew what it was trying to do but didn't quite get there leaving us with a movie that people either 'get and like' or think is rubbish.

I think this is definitely one of those movies where tastes vary.

"Who is Josh Groban? Kill yourself!"- Sandy.

[–] kreizimam 12 years ago

I wouldn't call it intelligent, but it is interesting and refreshing.
This kind of teen movie should be the one that defines the generation, not that twilight hunger games crap.
Although I dont get half of the funny lines but that because I'm old (Im 14 in )992 and kriss kross did rule!).

[–] ninjastark5 11 years ago

I must be misunderstanding you. Are you saying that this film is somehow a more worthy piece of cinema than hunger games - a movie that has pathos and coherence (both of which seem to be missing in detention). Everyone has their own opinion but I think this one's a tough sell.

[–] Patrilot 12 years ago

It's not hard to understand that it's not a typical slasher, horror, or even a typical satire. I can appreciate the effort, but it was simply a constant barrage of outdated pop culture jokes and tried way too hard to be intelligent and satirical. I found only a few moments slightly funny, but this movie fell flat on it's face for me.

[–] jettyrus 12 years ago

I can't tell if it's a trash film attempting to be a trash film masquerading as an intelligent film masquerading as trash or just a trash film masquerading as an intelligent film.

[–] Diagoro 12 years ago

It's an intelligent movie masquerading as a trash movie attempting to be an intelligent movie that's actually masquerading as trash.

[–] ununchanged 12 years ago

little explanation: Smash a ton of random confusing stuff into a few hours of time, give it a title appealing to confused yound adults and you can be sure they start searching for a deeper meaning within it. We always search for meaning, for connections, for causality - thats just how the human mind works.
But believe me: It's just random - there is no way anybody could ever decipher what this is actually supposed to "mean" because only the writer might know. And it is quite possible that it's nothing but random word cards pulled out of a box and turned into somewhat of a story. The meaning originates inside your own head, wich isn't a bad thing at all. But don't get paranoid and search for a deeper message because this one defenitly has little to zero. It's a good thing if art tries to inspire and that one obviously manages to do that. But is this a smart satire on teenage movies? Hardly - More like tons of references in a blender. Just because something is fast, and uses tons of comlicated words doesn't make it smart. Actually the hard, and the smart thing is quite the opposite: Making a complicated message easy to understand. Beeing cryptic isn't hard.

[–] Diagoro 12 years ago

Can you seriously imagine any writer sat there just using random scenes and references? They'd never get a day's work. Even the worst written movies aspire to be something.

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"Another brilliant post Steinberg..."

[–] 12 years ago

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