Customer Reviews

Half Nelson

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For several years now I have been waiting for Ryan Gosling to fulfill the promise that he exhibited in his revolutionary performance in "The Believer." Films have come and gone and in most of them he has been giving good performances ("Murder by Numbers") and problematic ones ("The Notebook") but always with a sense of who he is as an actor and more importantly how he can use his talent and his very being to bring the story of the character he is playing alive.
Now with his Dan Dunne, Gosling has finally fulfilled that promise and his Dunne is complicated (a terrific, human, enabling and encouraging high school teacher who is also a cocaine free-baser), sensitive to a fault, sexually aware...basically a talented, educated, addicted man from a loving family that can't help but fall victim to the baser parts of his nature. He is upright, strong, smart, loving but can't help but call on the appeal of drugs to douse the raging fire of indecision and self-hatred burning deep inside of him. A fire that director/writers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden choose not to explicitly reveal, though after a Dunne family dinner we are perhaps given some hints into Dan Dunne's upbringing and politically committed family and therefore the genesis of his addiction.
Fleck and Boden give us expositional information in a very interesting way here particularly the juxtaposition, the flipping back and forth of the images between the Dunne family dinner (ex-hippie parents, socially and politically committed brother and his girlfriend... eating, drinking bottles and bottles of wine) and Dunne's student and friend Drey's evening home with family: filling small plastic bags with cocaine, chatting about her brother in jail...all polite and ordinary. But honestly: which family situation is best, which family situation is the most comforting for Dan and Drey. This masterful scene goes on for quite a long time and yet Fleck and Boden refuse to comment, refuse to put one family in a better light than the other.
Besides Gosling, there are a couple of actresses here that deserve special note. One, in a small role, though she appeared in both "Six Feet Under" and "Taken," Tina Holmes as Goslings ex and a former addict's very presence on the screen brings a certain weight and gravity to this film and of course to her role. Holmes is all sly, shy smiles, small gestures (she does more with an eye crinkle than do most with long involved scenes) and an inherent honesty and vulnerability that makes your heart hurt. She actually steals her very first scene with Gosling by under acting and the sheer luminosity of her performance.
Secondly, Shareeka Epps as Drey is amazing: she has an old soul, and like Holmes a gravity and a basic honesty that sets her apart from others in her family and the other students in this film. As her jailed brothers friend Frank (the excellent Anthony Mackie) says of Drey's friendship with Dunne: "It is inappropriate." But you know what, as presented and implemented in this film...it isn't. It's strange, it's rife with possible problems, it's audacious for sure but it's also the life preserver that saves both Dunne and Drey... it's their redemption.

Ryan Gosling is, without question, one of the finest actors of his generation. And I admire that he is still choosing to work in independent, meaningful films. He's come a long way from his days as a Mouseketeer. I contend that if "The Believer" had not been dismissed from Academy consideration due to a technicality, he could have made a serious bid for a Best Actor nomination several years ago. Even his work in more conventional films like "The Notebook" and "Murder By Numbers" is noteworthy and raises the quality of those productions.

"Half Nelson" is a small film about real people struggling with real problems. Shareeka Epps stars as Drey in a very straightforward, natural performance. She is growing up with the fear that she will become like her brother. He became entrenched in the world of drugs and is currently serving time. There is almost a feeling of inevitability, this is her world and she is incapable of escaping it. Gosling's Dan, on the other hand, is a semi-functioning drug addict who is her teacher. There is a helplessness to his life as well--he shows very little interest in actually changing his situation. But while he doesn't feel as if he can save himself, he channels that concern into saving Drey. And where she can't change her own circumstances, she makes a connection with Dan.

It's an interesting dynamic, one that isn't often portrayed. And the closeness of their bond can be somewhat unsettling in that they are teacher/student, male/female, adult/child. It's not an easy relationship to form under ordinary circumstances.

There are no major revelations by the characters in "Half Nelson". No major confrontations, no climactic scene, no tidy ending. It's just two characters quietly drawn to each other and gaining strength, however fleetingly, from that association. You're left to ponder what will happen with these characters once the film has ended. You may have a glimmer of hope, but realistically you know it's going to be an uphill battle. Ultimately the movie's realism, and lack of an answer, are it's strongest asset. Life doesn't come in tidy packages for any of us. KGHarris, 12/06.

"Half Nelson" is one of those small films that tackles gritty subject matter without concern to being "politically correct" or - worse -"marketable" to a mass audience. This allows the Actors and Writers more artistic freedom. Reminiscent of 2000's excellent "Requiem for a Dream," "Half Nelson" shows the ravages of drug addiction on a seemingly normal person. At the beginning of the film, Ryan Gosling's Dan Dunne seems merely an offbeat, creative inner-city Teacher, but the depth of his crack addition soon begins to show. Mr. Gosling bravely tackles this role with grace and a strange dignity - halfway into the film he wears a goofy bandage on his lip after a girlfriend pops him during a crack-fueled seduction. His Oscar nomination is well-deserved: he never takes this role "over the top" and manages to be sympathetic and tragic all at once. Ms. Epps is excellent as well, displaying a maturity and finesse as Mr. Gosling's ally.

If there ever was a movie that should be seen for an astonishing performance by an actor, it's "Half Nelson" with Ryan Gosling. The Canadian born Gosling, who co-starred in "The Notebook" with Rachel McAdams and made his debut on "The Mickey Mouse Club," plays Dan Dunne, a history teacher in a Brooklyn junior high school. Nominated for an Academy Award, Gosling brings incredible depth to the role of the troubled teacher with a cocaine problem.

When Dunne is not struggling with "crash and burn" in the harsh morning light of the classroom, he's hell-bent down the road of self-destruction. Despite the double life, he is a good teacher who really does inspire his students. He manages to bypass the regular curriculum by sharing his belief in Hegelian dialectics, the idea that history or change can only happen through opposing forces. Watching Dunne make such enormous effort to put on a good face for his students is heart-rending. It is impossible to witness his plight in the morning and not remember the worst hangover you ever had.

The story starts moving in a new direction when 13-year-old Drey (Shareeka Epps) finds her history teacher on the restroom floor after a basketball game. From then on, they forge a bond over the disclosure of his drug use, which he still tries to hide from her. He starts driving her home after games and exchanging knowing looks with her on particularly bad mornings.

Lest you think this turns into the tired formula of the forbidden teacher-student affair, let me stop you right there. Director Ryan Fleck and co-writer/co-producer/editor Anna Boden sidestep the genres of romance and inspirational classroom fable, and create an entirely different story of redemption.

There's no doubt that Drey develops a schoolgirl crush, while her teacher grows too protective of her, especially around her drug-dealing older friend Frank (Anthony Mackie). We see the film cut back and forth between two scenes: Drey looking shyly at herself in the mirror during a moment of sexual awakening and Dunne in the throes of a careless, drug-enhanced sexual encounter with another teacher.

Teacher and student are from different worlds, but each stands at the crossroads in their lives. The filmmakers honor this experience between the two without exploitation or spending too much time discussing right or wrong. Neither character is assigned the role as the main catalyst for the change brewing in their lives, but the simple friendship between teacher and student brings healing and transformation.

It may be named for an amateur wrestling move, but writer/director Ryan Fleck's "Half Nelson" drips with full-fledged cinematic sophistication from the first frame to the last. A story of two tormented lives inextricably intertwined by unlikely means, the tension it creates on screen is palpable and ever engrossing as it unfolds with increasing momentum.

Best known for his role in the saccharine but well-received 2004 theatrical interpretation of Nicholas Sparks' novel "The Notebook," Ryan Gosling lives his best day as an actor here. His portrayal of drug addict/history teacher Dan Dunn nabbed him his first Oscar nod, and his complete absorption of his character - everything from life-changing revelations to nervous ticks - justifies the accolades. With a fine script by Fleck and his collaborator Anna Boden in his hands, Gosling wrings it out for all its worth, seizing viewers in a way that only the best kind of actor can achieve.

He quickly establishes Dunn as a good guy with a bad habit. An addict who spends many a night catching nary a wink of sleep, he still manages to be a consistent, scintillating presence for his junior high students in inner-city Brooklyn. Urging them to linger over history and consider it, not merely read and regurgitate, he provides an encouraging presence for the kids not just in the classroom but as a coach on the basketball court.

He has a life full of important obligations, but his vices and dour circumstances - including an ex-girlfriend set to be married, played with understated verve by Tina Holmes, known for her work on "Six Feet Under" - keep steering him away from the right path. It nearly blows up in his face when tight-lipped student Drey, played endearingly by budding young actress Shareeka Epps, stumbles upon him stoned beyond mobility on the floor of the girls' bathroom. She is able to empathize with his unenviable situation, however, and grows particularly close to Dunn - especially considering their student/teacher relationship.

With her mother, played brilliantly by frequent Fleck collaborator Karen Chilton, constantly at work to pay the bills, as well as an absent father, Drey is already grown up in many ways at her young age. Her brother is serving prison time for a botched drug deal, and Frank, played by Anthony Mackie, is to blame. Like a crafty car salesman, his charm is hard to resist yet hard, helping him succeeds in luring her back into his life despite the hardships he brought upon her family. His intentions seem innocent initially, as though he owes her a makeshift big brother after causing hers to vanish. Some things are too good to be true, however.

The lives of Dunn and Drey soon overlap due to their intense, deep care for one another. Each has a host of problems, but both seem better equipped to fix each others' than their own. Frank drives a sharp wedge between the both of them, and sooner or later something has got to give.

Everything falls into place in "Half Nelson" in a satisfying fashion. The script, the actors and the setting combine to make a whole different world for these characters to live and breathe in, even if it's one that looks familiar around the edges. A lot of films have promise, but this fulfills every one of them with magic to spare.

There are detailed, insightful reviews of Half Nelson in this section. I only wanted to comment on one aspect of the film, the character Frank, played by Anthony Mackie. Frank is the "friend" who got the brother in prison and is now "friends" with the little sister Drey.

This character caused this film to be a life-altering event for me. I have known this character in real life, life on the bottom. In real life I did not recognize him as a bad guy. I thought he was a good guy, just as Drey does. Because he is a very nice guy. A sweet guy. A guy who just happens also to take innocence and turn it to his own ends. And it was many moments into the film, almost where the teacher Dunne takes Frank on and tells him to leave Drey alone, that I realized--with a shock--that Frank is one of the most sinister characters I ever read, and his real existence in real people in the real world is equally sinister, and I'd never realized that my own "friend" had used women like that,like Frank used Drey and her brother, smiling all the while. My whole life I have been as innocent, as needy, as used, as Drey, except I had no good teacher to stand up for me, and I had not realized it until I saw this film. Naturally this makes Half Nelson one of my all time favorite movies, and the author and director eligible for some kind of special sainthood oscar for doing what writers can do, at their best: exposing, helping the innocent to know the bad guys, because the really bad guys are as charming and easy as good old Frank.

I knew nothing of this film before watching it except that Ryan Gosling was in it. He's a very good actor and I like his film choices, but I must give credit to Shareeka Epps who's acting chops amazed me. I was mesmerized by her character and her subtle expression which made her seem very old and wise beyond her years. I was completely engrossed in this film and it's characters. An interesting little film. Surprise surprise!

I am sort of a Ryan Gosling fan but I had not gotten around to seeing Half Nelson for some reason. I think that I am often reticent to watch movies that are so dark because they can effect me more than I would like.

I am, however, glad that I was able to get over that and watch this film. It was rough. I have never had the urge to do cocaine or smoke crack but this movie would have killed even the slightest curiosity for me. After watching this, I realized that drugs are glamorized more than I had been aware of because few movies were as uncomfortable to watch as this one. Candy might be the only other one that comes to mind right now and even there the love story softened some of the hard edges that were left all over Half Nelson.

In addition to the discomfort imparted by Dan's drug use, there was an uneasiness I felt about his relationship with Drey. The tension was perfectly done. The possibility of the friendship between them becoming something unacceptably inappropriate was an undercurrent that kept it from feeling saccharine. This was my favorite aspect of this film and I think that both Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps did a fantastic job at maintaining that tension.

The movie had some really funny moments, too, which I appreciated. I think that Ryan Gosling was just amazing. He managed to do some pretty despicable things and be a pretty pathetic character without alienating the audience. When he does something positive, he is so conflicted that it seems believable and genuine.

Really, just a great film. I think that Gosling creates Dan and gives him life and the rest of the cast of the film create the world that he lives in very convincingly.

Half Nelson is first and foremost an UNFORGETTABLE PERFORMANCE by Ryan Gosling, just perfect as a young teacher who discovers so many things about himself when he gets close to one of his student (impressive Shareeka Epps). They do need each other even if they're very different. It's beautiful because it's a very simple story: the meeting of two people that will change their life. Definitely a must have.

This is a very strong film, that features some remarkable performances by Ryan Gosling and newcomer Shareeka Epps. It acknowledges, but avoids falling prey to many of the stereotypes about inner city schools, drug users and dealers, and relationships between blacks and whites. Above all it works because it is not trying to prove anything, there are no simple or straightforward morals here, and the characters do try but don't always succeed in doing the "right thing" -- and the film does not pretend to know exactly what that is even when it does point to certain dangers. The dialogue is excellent, the film looks good (nothing fantastic, but very competently directed, in such a way as to not draw attention away from the characters or the story, which is really the point here), the music is strong and supports the emotions that come out of the story, without forcing them upon you. You really can't ask for more, this film is another indication that in spite of the attention given to first weekend grosses of big blockbusters, the heart of American cinema remains in the small independent films that address real issues faced by real people.