Half Nelson

Ryan Gosling made happen what happens only once every so often. Made me look at what I seen before under a new magnifying light. He took me with him and showed me, with the most astonishing clarity, the complexity of a talented man dragged down by a legacy of good intentions and addiction. We're permitted to visit his family once and we understand what he's fighting with without any weapons. He doesn't blame anyone but he's the result of his own DNA and he knows it. His bright moments, the explanation of what History is for instance, is a glimpse into the man he could actually be, fully. The humanity that Ryan Gosling lends to his character on his darker moments it's as chillingly real as it is moving. The chemistry he establishes with the wonderful Shareeka Epps is as powerful as the one he established with me. I want to meet him, I want to meet Dan and while I was thinking that I realize I know him already. He lives next door to me, he's related to me, I was his friend. This is what superb performances do. They re-awake you.

Two knockout performances dominate this uncompromising and emotionally visceral indie. Directed and co-written by first-time feature director Ryan Fleck, this 2006 drama pulls no punches and offers no cheap sentiment in the story of two people intractably bonded by their mutually desultory existences - Dan Dunne, a crack-addicted Brooklyn middle school history teacher, and Drey, a 13-year old student in his class burdened by an overworked mother, a brother in prison, and an insinuating drug dealer named Frank. Fleck and co-writer Anna Boden establish Dan's gifts as a teacher almost immediately as the character engages his class with natural ease. It becomes clear that this is not going to be a fish-out-of-water story but a more complex study of a man caught between his passion for teaching and his hopeless need for the next fix.

Dan's self-defeating effort to separate the duality in his life is what provides the impetus of the plot, as there are no simple explanations offered for his drug-addled life until we catch a glimpse of his emotionally disconnected family later on. Much like what Vera Farmiga achieved in "Down to the Bone", Ryan Gosling dissects his character with textured precision and conviction. He honestly earns our attention and even our compassion despite the selfishness Dan displays at times. Matching Gosling all the way is novice Shareeka Epps, who plays Drey with almost unnerving steadiness. She affectingly conveys the self-protective insulation her character has against a world too ready to use her.

Together Gosling and Epps remarkably achieve an unexpected symbiosis that makes Dan's and Drey's ongoing struggles palpable. The supporting cast is uniformly strong with effective turns by Anthony Mackie, who shows surprising depth in what could have been a stock villain role as Frank, and by Karen Chilton etching the regret and exhaustion in Drey's mother in just a few brief scenes. Even though the film was done on a miniscule budget, it doesn't feel cheap with particularly strong work found in Andrij Parekh's intentionally bleached-out cinematography. The 2007 DVD offers a nice, unassuming commentary track by Fleck and Boden, but the rest of the extras are not very interesting - a gag reel, three understandably deleted scenes and four extended scenes that really don't add much more insight. However, the film itself is exceptional work.

Ryan Gosling delivers a performance in HALF NELSON that is a marvel to watch and to see the talent which this young man/actor brings to the film and screen. Every frame delivers the intensity and drama within this young teacher's life and the issues he handles with his addiction and how he strives to reach his students in the classroom through honesty, humor and the lessons of history delivered on screen.

Just watching Gosling in every frame is a triumph in what character development is all about, along with the brilliance of his performance. Gosling adds HALF NELSON to his outstanding work in the films THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND and the gorgeous NOTEBOOK.

Shareeka Epps as a young, struggling student, is a perfect foil to Gosling, and her intelligence and strength matches that of Gosling as they both deliver scenes that are memorable and tremendous. From the classroom to the basketball court, to the painful addiction scenes, Epps and Gosling make HALF NELSON come alive with anger, pain and the true pathos of life represented in America today.

With the final scene in the film, one can only hope that the characters may move from despair into lives which might give them a sense of hope, and finally a chance, as with the lessons of history, to move beyond their unhappy past into a brighter and more rewarding future.

Half Nelson, the first feature by director Ryan Fleck, steers clear of the inspiring clichés of teacher-student films and the usual violence of films set in the ghetto.

Half Nelson is a character study, with a meager plot stretched into a one-act film. Not to say this is a bad thing. If one wishes to be thoroughly entertained, steer clear of this film. If one wishes to have a comfortable time at the movies, steer clear of this film. However, if one wishes to view a unique and risky example of independent cinema, see this film.

Any viewer can tell how much blood and sweat went into making Half Nelson, which was shot on 16mm for less than $1 million. Ryan Gosling is truly admirable for seeing something in this screenplay. After breaking viewers' hearts in The Notebook, Gosling carries this film. Gosling plays Dan Dunne, a Brooklyn middle-school teacher who is addicted to crack cocaine, with admirable subtlety. It's a performance that will make the audience cringe with anguish and sympathy as Gosling takes one self-destructive step after another.

It isn't surprising to hear that Half Nelson was once a short film by Fleck titled Gowanus, Brooklyn. That film starred the young actress Shareeka Epps as a bright, tough African-American girl named Drey in Dunne's class. The film characterized her unlikely friendship with Dunne, after she discovered his crack habit. Epps reprises her role in Half Nelson, and is astonishingly good in her feature debut, giving a real, down-to-earth performance. Rounding out the main cast is the charismatic Anthony Mackie as Frank, a local drug dealer who is actually nice.

Anna Boden's screenplay, co-written by Fleck, is filled with ranges of intensity, awkwardness, sadness, and humor. Fleck veers from the norm in his direction, giving an extremely claustrophobic look into the lives of the characters.

Half Nelson, although somewhat painful to watch, will stay with you for a long time.

I am teacher. And I saw this film from the angle of my job. As a realistic portrait of a special universe. As honest image of the essence of a work. As one of the most inspired performances of Ryan Gosling. As a great film. About the deep reality behind the appearences. A film about truth. And eulogy of friendship. Short, a teacher, his student and the fight against him. Enough for few questions about near reality and the choices around it.