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 has won many awards, AFI Movie of the Year, FIPRESCI Prize for best film at the San Francisco International Film Festival and was even nominated for an Oscar in 2007.
Half Nelson is about a middle school history teacher, Dan Dunne at an urban Brooklyn school. He is a teacher students love because of his teaching style, which rejects typical curriculum style. He is a great teacher and seems to have it all together at the beginning of the film. Along with being a teacher he is also the girls basketball team coach. One day after a basketball game, Dan is surprised by the visit of his ex-girlfriend, someone he had been trying to avoid. After talking to her, he is found in a bathroom stall by one of his classmates, Drey, getting high. Drey, daughter of a single mother who is always busy at work and sister of a man who is in jail for selling drugs in the neighborhood, has no father figure in her life. She looks at Frank, the neighborhood drug dealer, as a father figure. Both Drey and Dan are going trough some tough times and are being led to bad baths. They become close friends, trying to help each other stay away from the negative influences of drugs, but it is hard for both of them to stay away. Dan gets harder into drugs, letting it take over his life and teaching, and Drey is being influenced and taught how to sell drugs for Frank around the neighborhood. Dan, initially defends Drey from Frank but towards the end, he ends up buying drugs from Frank. At the end, both of their drug paths connect and they realize they need to make a drastic change in their life to get back on the right path.
Half Nelson was a great film. I am a huge Ryan Gosling fan, so I really enjoyed it. I believe his acting is super strong, he is always able to get into the role and convey the character at its best. He's just an amazing actor and I love watching him act. Ok, so as a filmmaker, I really enjoyed the use of hand held's and lighting. There were many obvious hand held's in this film, some shaky and some not a shaky. The hand hels conveyed a raw feeling, the perfect feeling for the story and the certain scenes. There was one specific scene where the camera was pretty shaky and I was iffy about it at the beginning but, after watching it at its entirety I though it was a great element for the scene. Lighting in the film felt very natural, something I really enjoy. Lighting in indie films is probably one of my favorite aspects of indie films. I like it when shots look natural, not so hollywood. This film definitely had a natural feel through the way lighting was produced. Oh and there was a sex scene in it, Ryan Gosling sex scene.. LOVE! Didn't show much skin but hey, ill take anything. For all those ladies that love Gosling like I do, check it out.
So, overall I really liked the film. It had a good twist at the end, a little expected but still pretty creative. Ryan Gosling's acting was phenomenal like always, camera work was great, story was unique and creative and the lighting really helped the feel of the story. Great film! For me it was a must see because I love Gosling but, if it might not be a might see for everyone. Its a great film to watch if you are in the mood of a great indie film!
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