A rookie unconventional history teacher takes on a class of unruly inner city kids who will finally learn the meaning of teacher-student bond and free thinking. Does this sound like a hackneyed enough plot summary for you? No matter how gushing fans and reviewers twist and turn this outline, that remains its plot on paper. It is fortunate then that 'Half Nelson' mostly steers away from the dutiful by-the-numbers approach of underdog victories in the basketball court or an underdog student acing a test, adopting a sweeter less in-your-face indie tone.
The title 'Half Nelson' is a wrestling term that involves locking your opponent in an impossible position. This is an apt title, for Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) wrestles with a mounting drug addiction and teacher responsibility, pinning lost idealism somewhere in between. He is trapped in a situation he cannot get out of. As a History teacher, he likes to ramble more about the dialectics, complexities, forces and theories of history rather than recapping the facts according to the curriculum. He opposes the policies of the school and its conformist syllabus.
This type of racial inspirational drama is prime meat for Hollywood. The non-conformity in the film is so relatable that it makes nod with recognition, not to mention it sells. Certainly, 'Half Nelson' is not a particularly inventive film nor is it a Herculean task to make, but it transcends its genre by cross-over appeal in the drug side of the spectrum. The crux is to make it different and compelling. Dan teaches during the day and compels his batch of cocky black junior high students, then goes home, does a few lines, smokes crack, joints, whatever he can get his hands on. Moving anonymously from failed dates to lonely trips to the bar, he ultimately returns home to sleep on a dingy mattress on the hardwood floor of his apartment.
Dan as a character, as you can tell, is challenging role for an actor to inhabit. Between his difficult, idealist and alternative nature, he is utterly self-loathing and descends into narcotization because of it. I cannot quite make up my mind about Ryan Gosling in the film. To be sure, he is a capable actor with a kind of natural bleary-eyed talent, underpinned with strong emotional surges. Perhaps you could make a good case for that the film rests squarely on the shoulders of Gosling, even though but Shareeka Epps as Dan's only friend Drea performs well as a Latchkey kid, not to mention that at times Gosling feels almost too emotionally numb to truly engage you.
This is regrettably also true for the whole film. It is numb. The atmosphere is almost eerily calm, accompanied by a mellow indie score, lingering close-ups and generally introspective camera-work. The only thing that jumps out and grabs you are the clipped, fragmentary newsreel footages interjected in the history lessons. I wish I knew their purpose, for now they serve only as bloated non-conformist speeches to support the film's key theme. On the other end of the spectrum, this is by all accounts a well-made little indie gem that serves as a pleasant diversion from the formulaic teacher/mentor/student turns of recent years. It is simply ultimately a bit of a snooze.
7 out of 10
The title 'Half Nelson' is a wrestling term that involves locking your opponent in an impossible position. This is an apt title, for Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) wrestles with a mounting drug addiction and teacher responsibility, pinning lost idealism somewhere in between. He is trapped in a situation he cannot get out of. As a History teacher, he likes to ramble more about the dialectics, complexities, forces and theories of history rather than recapping the facts according to the curriculum. He opposes the policies of the school and its conformist syllabus.
This type of racial inspirational drama is prime meat for Hollywood. The non-conformity in the film is so relatable that it makes nod with recognition, not to mention it sells. Certainly, 'Half Nelson' is not a particularly inventive film nor is it a Herculean task to make, but it transcends its genre by cross-over appeal in the drug side of the spectrum. The crux is to make it different and compelling. Dan teaches during the day and compels his batch of cocky black junior high students, then goes home, does a few lines, smokes crack, joints, whatever he can get his hands on. Moving anonymously from failed dates to lonely trips to the bar, he ultimately returns home to sleep on a dingy mattress on the hardwood floor of his apartment.
Dan as a character, as you can tell, is challenging role for an actor to inhabit. Between his difficult, idealist and alternative nature, he is utterly self-loathing and descends into narcotization because of it. I cannot quite make up my mind about Ryan Gosling in the film. To be sure, he is a capable actor with a kind of natural bleary-eyed talent, underpinned with strong emotional surges. Perhaps you could make a good case for that the film rests squarely on the shoulders of Gosling, even though but Shareeka Epps as Dan's only friend Drea performs well as a Latchkey kid, not to mention that at times Gosling feels almost too emotionally numb to truly engage you.
This is regrettably also true for the whole film. It is numb. The atmosphere is almost eerily calm, accompanied by a mellow indie score, lingering close-ups and generally introspective camera-work. The only thing that jumps out and grabs you are the clipped, fragmentary newsreel footages interjected in the history lessons. I wish I knew their purpose, for now they serve only as bloated non-conformist speeches to support the film's key theme. On the other end of the spectrum, this is by all accounts a well-made little indie gem that serves as a pleasant diversion from the formulaic teacher/mentor/student turns of recent years. It is simply ultimately a bit of a snooze.
7 out of 10