In association with

Half Nelson [2006]
from Axiom Films International Ltd
starring Shareeka Epps, Tina Holmes, Anthony Mackie, Ryan Gosling, Nicole Vicius
directed by Ryan Fleck

Features:

• Anamorphic
• PAL

Editorial Review:

Sometimes people are attracted to each other because of their differences. When there's a nebulous attraction between a teacher and a young teenage child--as in the superb Half Nelson--the relationship has all the makings of confused disaster. Though there are a few uncomfortable moments when it's not obvious whether Dan (Ryan Gosling) and Drey (Shareeka Epps) might cross the line, the attraction between the pair is culled less from sexual tension than desperation. Dan is an idealistic history teacher in an inner-city school. Drey is one of his brightest students.

For both, drugs represent something that may help them escape their worlds. He takes drugs to dull his dissatisfaction with himself. She views drugs as a possible way to better her life, even though she knows her brother's foray into that trade landed him in jail. Bleakly filmed and well told, Half Nelson soars because of the immaculate acting by Gosling and Epps. With his impish smile, Gosling provides a character that is at once disarming, alluring, and pitiful. As the young girl who's already seen too much hardship in her life, Epps plays her part with just the right amount of hardened raw emotion. While the ambiguous ending may not please fans weaned on happy Hollywood finales, it's a fitting and believable close to a thought-provoking film. --Jae-Ha Kim

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• half nelson - most watchable
  A crucial story about history, change, sterotypes, addiction, the civil rights movement and the ability to make 'good' choices. The cast are warm and likeable but the main character, a brilliant school teacher, with a huge drug habit, reaches his pupils in a way no other 'ordinary' adult could. Built around his developing relationship with one of his 15 yr old students, the story hits something more real than just the inappropriate nature of his behaviour. Some of the best choices are maybe the most... more info

• Gosling is Sublime
  This film is beautiful. Gosling is so convincing it is almost difficult to envisage him having a real life outside of his character. He totally captures the dark, elusive, sweetly-sly but fading charisma that goes with the drowning addict. The whole creation is so atmospheric, so tense, so tragic and so bleak, that I almost found the ending unrealistically optimistic (i.e. Dunne is still alive). His descent into addiction hell is so accurately and painfully portrayed, it is difficult to envisage how he... more info

• Wake me up
  The first time I've ever been moved to review anything on Amazon, because I disagree so completely with it's average of a 4 star. This film is slow, uninvolving, boring and one dimensional. I can't decide if the acting is good as they rarely change their mood or delivery. It's not great, it's not good and it's not even ok...it's poor. Avoid it and spend the 207 minutes doing something might involve your mind.

• Excellent Drama
  Ryan Gosling plays Mr. Dunne, a history teacher at an American inner city high school. In the classroom he is thought provoking and popular with his students. In his private life he is depressed and unfulfilled and uses crack cocaine to dull his disappointment with his life. When a girl from his class, Dree (Shareeka Epps) catches him getting high after school one night, they form an unlikely friendship.
  This may sound like another Dangerous Minds with all the usual cliches of a white teacher trying to... more info

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