HALF NELSON d: Ryan Fleck
I caught Half Nelson at the Los Angeles Film Festival this past Saturday. Although this raw, edgy drama could use a little trimming, I was mesmerized by Ryan Gosling’s performance as Dan, a crack-addicted, inner-city school history teacher who resorts to drugs in spite of (or perhaps because of) his desire to change the world for the better.
Throughout the course of the film, Dan befriends one of his students, Drey (capably played by Shareeka Epps), a girl whose brother is in jail for dealing drugs and whose future looks equally dim. In most Hollywood movies, those two disparate characters would find redemption in each other’s arms, but to their credit, screenwriter-director Ryan Fleck (photo, right) and co-screenwriter Anna Boden don’t resort to such maudlin tactics. Half Nelson remains truthful, unsentimental, and non-judgmental to the very end.
Half Nelson opens in the fall, and if U.S. film critics keep their eyes and ears open, this moving drama has a good chance to win several awards at year’s end, including what would be a much deserved best actor nod for Gosling.
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"One thing doesn’t make a man"
What’s good, what’s bad?
What’s right, what’s wrong?
Who’s right, who’s not?
Who lives, who dies?
Who stays, who goes?
Who’s free, who’s not?
Who rules, who obeys?
Who lose, who plays?
Who’s free, who’s locked?
Who speaks, who shuts?
What’s real, what’s not?
What’s far, what’s close?
How far we go from "know" to judge?
Who is to say if it’s "OK"?
How bad could be to just be better
Than all we’ve ever seen or touched?
How bad should be to be the one
Who thought he’d never get out of the hole?
How bad would be someone who’s been taught
To live and die with a broken heart and soul"¦
Antonio C. Lyon
i love it!! its really nice.