Half-Nelson
I was a bit sceptical about this movie before I watched it; it's all too easy for these films to tip over into cloying mediocrity and leave you clutching at your windpipe desperately trying to yank it free from its corporeal prison and thereby loosing a tremendous life-ending spray on any hapless bystanders, assuming that is they haven't beaten you to the punch. So I was pleasantly surprised to retain some measure of a will to live at the end of Half-Nelson.
In a nutshell the film is about a free-basing, crack-addicted history teacher who is nevertheless able to inspire his pupils with his unique perspective on the subject and quirky didactic style. Which is, frankly, a pretty good starting point for a film like this. And crucially, for me at least, the director (Ryan Fleck) avoids cliché and moralising by leaving it to the viewer's imagination to decide what happens Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling).
As is well understood from anyone having read anything about this film the central story revolves around the relationship between Dan and one of his pupils, Drey (Shareeka Epps), their respective problems and most interestingly how they each handle Drey's discovery of Mr Dunne, how shall I put it, whacked out of his mind on crack in the changing rooms after a basketball game. We're not talking about having had a a bit of a smoke and feeling a bit squiffy, he was in the throes of a fairly serious hit, on the floor trying to keep it together but not really succeeding.
As you might imagine that scene, being pivotal to the film, was very well executed and Ryan Gosling was careful to preserve the teacher/pupil relationship throughout, a feat not easy to carry out whilst maintaining any degree of believability. In fact I'd say that for most of the film this fine line was successfully trodden.
What makes this film interesting for me was the fact that what develops in the story is the relationship between the two main characters, not the characters themselves. This might seem obvious but in most films the story arc of the main protagonist is clear cut and by and large it involves some highs and some lows before tying any loose ends up in a neat little bundle. But we leave this film not knowing how either of the main characters will fair; Dan's drug addiction is still a big problem and as I suspect Drey's nascent career in crime will become.
I like film to reflect life; it's not simple, everyone isn't nice and things rarely end up well. This film is filled with moral ambiguity, what do we think about a teacher being high on coke whilst teaching our kids? What do we think about a teacher forming a strong bond with one of his pupils? (another good thing about this film is that the relationship never comes across as inappropriate). And Dan does some things that few of us would be proud of. But as he says to Drey, "Just because you know this one thing ... one thing doesn't make a man". And that sums it up, we're all good and bad and when we find good friends we should keep them.
In a nutshell the film is about a free-basing, crack-addicted history teacher who is nevertheless able to inspire his pupils with his unique perspective on the subject and quirky didactic style. Which is, frankly, a pretty good starting point for a film like this. And crucially, for me at least, the director (Ryan Fleck) avoids cliché and moralising by leaving it to the viewer's imagination to decide what happens Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling).
As is well understood from anyone having read anything about this film the central story revolves around the relationship between Dan and one of his pupils, Drey (Shareeka Epps), their respective problems and most interestingly how they each handle Drey's discovery of Mr Dunne, how shall I put it, whacked out of his mind on crack in the changing rooms after a basketball game. We're not talking about having had a a bit of a smoke and feeling a bit squiffy, he was in the throes of a fairly serious hit, on the floor trying to keep it together but not really succeeding.
As you might imagine that scene, being pivotal to the film, was very well executed and Ryan Gosling was careful to preserve the teacher/pupil relationship throughout, a feat not easy to carry out whilst maintaining any degree of believability. In fact I'd say that for most of the film this fine line was successfully trodden.
What makes this film interesting for me was the fact that what develops in the story is the relationship between the two main characters, not the characters themselves. This might seem obvious but in most films the story arc of the main protagonist is clear cut and by and large it involves some highs and some lows before tying any loose ends up in a neat little bundle. But we leave this film not knowing how either of the main characters will fair; Dan's drug addiction is still a big problem and as I suspect Drey's nascent career in crime will become.
I like film to reflect life; it's not simple, everyone isn't nice and things rarely end up well. This film is filled with moral ambiguity, what do we think about a teacher being high on coke whilst teaching our kids? What do we think about a teacher forming a strong bond with one of his pupils? (another good thing about this film is that the relationship never comes across as inappropriate). And Dan does some things that few of us would be proud of. But as he says to Drey, "Just because you know this one thing ... one thing doesn't make a man". And that sums it up, we're all good and bad and when we find good friends we should keep them.
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Saw this film last year at the Vienalle film fest and really liked it. My initial thoughts after the film were, I wonder how much of this stuff exists in the US that never makes it anywhere outside of a few cinemas there and what a pity the US constantly gets judged by what it tosses to the rest of the world.
Aside from Chris's comments there's also a couple of other noteworthy moments. A really beautiful heart wrenching scene that doesn't make you feel manipulated as many other directors might. For me the main theme was more a portrayal of Dan's pridacament and Drey was part of this showing. So for me a scene I found very special was Dan's ex girlfriend's visit. She is excellent and it shows how one person's experiences in a world like that are always unique to them and bangs home a message that someones will to break or kick such things is probably severely hindered by their self image and a myriad of other issues. Her desperation to see him happy and kick his problem is hard to watch since you know she's also been there and understands that there's 'wanting to want to get off these things' and 'there's wanting to do it'. Unfortunately for Dan this he is currently in the former category.....by a good margin.
The other sideline in the film which is noteworthy is his relationship or reached understanding, might be a better phrase, with Drey's older brother and his friends. Who clearly deal. How can he put himself above them and become her drive a wedge between her and them? How does he explain this to her, what's his angle and rightly this doesn't happen.
A good (and well titled) film :-)
Sorry, last year(still thinking in 2007). The year before, wouldn't have been much of a film fest showing already released films :-)