Half Nelson: A very powerful and painful look at a junior-high school teacher’s addiction to drugs. Ryan Gosling(the Notebook) plays Mr. Dunne, a History teacher who works at an inner-city school in Brooklyn – this is the best performance of his career and the best acting by far that I have seen this year. One of the great aspects of the story is seeing how Mr. Dunne really does care about teaching his students about history – even though he hits the crack pipe at night. But the aspect that makes this movie stand out the most is the friendship he has with Drey -one of his female students in his class. She is also affected by the world of drugs – her brother is in jail for dealing and her family is friends with the neighborhood drug dealer. On paper you might think that true friendship between a teacher and a 12 year old girl is far fetched, but the actors bring it to life. What we see develop is both characters give in to the evil world around them until their worlds collide. The climax of the movie is one of the more stirring, haunting and beautiful moments I have seen in film in a long time. This is all done by the performance of the 2 actors, but mainly by Ryan Gosling. Like all great acting performances everything is said in expressions – no words are needed. As Mr. Dunne teaches in his History class = History is made when there is conflict from 2 opposing forces, we see that all happen on screen and it is truly brilliant!
* * * and ½
If this movie had parents they would be: Dead Poets Society & Boyz N the Hood
With a run time of 106 minutes
This film is rated R
I just figured out that the director of this picture is Ryan, the star is Ryan ... and you're Ryan, too!
ReplyDeleteDude, a lot of Ryans on one post!
Ry, this movie looks really, really, really good. I'm going to catch this, but I suspect it won't be easy. I think there's one theatre in town that may play it, and that probably won't be for a few months. I'll probably wind up getting this on DVD.
Thanks, Ry