How could it possibly fail to deliver, both politically and on a human scale, when many of its moments ring so true and honest, when the performances of its two leading actors are so finely nuanced and realized? Half Nelson, Ryan Fleck’s subtle, quietly powerful new film, forces us to reconsider what we believe to be good and bad, and as the opening quote suggests, whether or not a person should be reduced to a single act, attribute, or condition. Instead, he lets us observe quietly. The film was given limited release opening in two theaters, taking in $53,983 its opening weekend. Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck and Anna Boden.The film stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie.It was scored by Canadian band Broken Social Scene.Gosling was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.. An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret. [5], On the television show Ebert & Roeper that aired during the weekend of August 13, 2006, Richard Roeper and guest critic Kevin Smith gave Half Nelson a "two big thumbs up" rating. Thus the film nearly collapses before our very eyes. Her tone is almost but not quite neutral; not accusatory, but with a subtle yet affectionate rebuke. In the film's pinnacle scene, Drey arrives at a place to deliver some drugs and walks into a room of stoned drug users. "Look, just because you know that one thing about me ...," Dan says. for drug content throughout, language and some sexuality, CIFF 2020: Black Perspectives Program Highlights Diverse Voices, CIFF 2020: The Roger Ebert Award Returns to Champion New Voices, Immerse Yourself in Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project #3. At the end, we have no more insight into his life than we did at the beginning. His students not only enjoy the class; they listen and participate enthusiastically. Half Nelson: the parts are greater than the whole By Ramón Valle 9 November 2006 Half Nelson, written and directed by Ryan Fleck. And the thing is, he's a good teacher, even if (or, rather, because) he doesn't always stick to the district-approved syllabus. These human opposites become dependent on each other; they continually clash, learn from and transform each other. So, if a person is a gambler, he must be a drunk. Why couldn’t it fulfill the promise of its beginning? Dan goes to his parents' house for dinner. "Ryan Gosling" may sound like the name of a teen heartthrob, but this performance, coming after "The Believer," proves he's one of the finest actors working in contemporary movies. [1], Half Nelson received critical acclaim. The following day, he further takes his stress out on Drey, telling her to talk to friends her own age. But there are boundaries. The theme of inner conflict runs throughout the film. "Right, like you do," she says. The performances and the honesty and sincerity of Half Nelson lift it out of the ordinary. Dan himself is confused about his relationship to Drey. [17], Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best New Filmmaker, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association – Russell Smith Award, Deauville Film Festival – Jury Special Prize, Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature, Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, Nantucket Film Festival – Screenwriting Award, National Board of Review for Best Breakthrough Performance – Male, Philadelphia Film Festival for Best Director, San Francisco International Film Festival for Best Film, Seattle International Film Festival – Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, "Weekend Box Office Results for August 11–13, 2006, "Ebert & Roeper, Reviews for the Weekend of August 12–13, 2006", "Opposites Attract – Scott Foundas – The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles", "The 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009)", "Half Nelson – Box Office Data, DVD Sales", Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Half_Nelson_(film)&oldid=954633830, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, David Easton as Jeff Dunne, Dan's brother, Nicole Vicius as Cindy, Jeff's girlfriend, This page was last edited on 3 May 2020, at 13:46. As charming, charismatic, and terrific as he is as a teacher, we soon discover a terrible contradiction in his character that makes him his own worst nightmare: he is a crack addict, has no friends, and is unable to maintain any relationship with women. [2] It premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Dan (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on the hardwood floor of his apartment in an open short-sleeved shirt and white jockey shorts. One day, after snorting coke, he passes out in one of the stalls of the gym’s bathroom. But Drey needs both, and she's not going to let job descriptions get in her way. In the movies, and unfortunately in life, we tend to accept the easy falsehood that someone who behaves badly in one respect must be bad in others, even if they're totally unrelated. It seems like a film that could jump-start the careers of everyone involved. To wit, why is this wonderfully sympathetic, handsome, intelligent teacher, obviously loved by students, fellow teachers, ex-girlfriend, and parents alike, hooked on drugs and ready to go over the edge? One regrets opportunities missed and wasted talent. It is neither a “come-from-behind-triumph-over-adversity” story, nor a phony “victory-of-poor-students-over-a-soulless-school-bureaucracy” melodrama. A short while later, one of his students (and a player on the girls' basketball team he coaches), Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him getting high in the locker room. The movie Half Nelson, starring Ryan Gosling as a crack-addicted schoolteacher, turned heads at the Sundance Film Festival. After much is said and done, what do they discover? And then he somehow gets himself to work, dragging himself up the stairs like an escapee from a George Romero movie. Meanwhile, Drey has to deal with a single-mother (Karen Chilton) who is always at work, a brother, Mike (Collins Pennie), who is in prison for selling drugs for neighborhood dealer, Frank (Anthony Mackie) and an absent father. Were Half Nelson not anchored in its wonderful performances, its many heart-felt, honest moments and the sincerity of its approach, it would have virtually negated itself. A deep flaw in the script makes Half Nelson, despite its many admirable qualities, so unsatisfying. At any rate, these sequences are among the least effective in the film, as they have no apparent organic connection to the drama that unfolds before us. He knows he can't save the world; he just wants to do right by this one girl. How many teachers impart to their students, with a sense of humor, an understanding of history as a conflict of opposing social forces? We have very little idea of his past or how he became a junkie. So, if a person is a gambler, he must be a drunk. "[10] Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader wrote that "a dedicated, charismatic, crack-addicted history teacher is the most believable protagonist in an American movie this year. Or the pressure of his inner-city teaching job? "See you tomorrow," she says when he drops her off at home. They begin a strange, at times surprising, often exasperating, and ultimately meaningful relationship through which they find some sort of redemption. International Committee of the Fourth International. But they do so in many fresh ways; their story avoids the usual clichés that generally accompany such stories. The question remains, however: to what end? Everything that makes this movie so terrific is right there in that scene, in the interplay between these two characters -- and these two actors. Many of the nominations were for Ryan Gosling, including the Academy Award, for his performance as Dan Dunne. She frowns, looks at him. "One thing doesn't make a man." Directed by Ryan Fleck. He doubles as the girls’ basketball coach at his school, thus providing a physical antidote or complement to his intellectual pursuits. "[4] On Metacritic the film has a score of 85 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Does it have anything to do with the accumulated impact of political events? He walks out of the back room and slumps down at the sight of Drey as the drug runner. The same night, Drey is out with Frank, dealing. Nor does the film engage in the typical gross, sophomoric vulgar antics typical of “independent” film characters whose only goal in life seems to be the gratification of their libidos. The film ends with Dan telling the same joke he heard from Cindy, but the timing is all wrong. At the beginning of the film, we see him conducting a history lesson. While it’s an 11-year-old movie at this point, director Vincenzo Natali’s Splice is a film that’s known for its rather twisted ending. He says he's sorry. But is he a bad guy? It was scored by Canadian band Broken Social Scene. For Ellie, that is getting a chance to pursue her dream and actually go to Grinnell. The next day, Dan is not at school, and his students are told that he is being replaced by a Mr. Light, without much explanation. Dan is revealed to be the buyer. Neither of them makes a big thing about it. In a black-and-white world, human flaws are not allowed. She gets him a wet paper towel. In need of a father figure, she doesn’t judge him. And he's only 25 years old. [7], Entertainment Weekly film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum awarded the film with an "A" and stated in her review for the film, "Half Nelson offers an opportunity to marvel, once again, at the dazzling talent of Ryan Gosling for playing young men as believable as they are psychologically trip-wired. Why does this contemporary event receive so little attention? Off court, he punches a wall. This gives the film a somewhat abstract and falsely “timeless” air; it produces a certain distancing that confuses the viewer as to whether the film takes place in the here and now or some decades ago. It was released theatrically on August 11, 2006. The story concerns an inner city middle-school teacher who forms a friendship with … This movie isn't about those things, but is concerned with an even greater achievement that is generally unacknowledged: how people -- flawed, miserable, frustrated people -- go to work every day and find a way to care about something beyond themselves, despite themselves. The story concerns an inner city middle-school teacher who forms a friendship with one of his students after she discovers that he has a drug habit. There's no triumph, no breakthrough, no by-the-numbers victory in test scores or on the basketball court. Drey sits down and joins him. But once he gets started talking about the dialectics of power and world politics, he comes alive. You know I'm just talking about your hand, right?" She knocks on Dan's door and he answers. "Half Nelson," the miraculous movie by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, is about a junior high schoolteacher who smokes. As the end credits of Half Nelson roll, one feels uncomfortable, certainly disappointed and angry. A smile breaks across her face and she quietly snickers: " 'One thing doesn't make a man?' The film is based on a 19-minute film made by Boden and Fleck in 2004, titled Gowanus, Brooklyn. Why couldn’t this film have been better? On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 90%, based on 130 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The film has earned $16,180,000 in rentals and $1,538,323 in DVD sales.