Product Description

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a young inner-city junior high school teacher whose ideals wither and die in the face of reality. Day after day in his shabby Brooklyn classroom, he somehow finds the energy to inspire his 13 and 14-year-olds to examine everything from civil rights to the Civil War with a new enthusiasm. Rejecting the standard curriculum in favor of an edgier approach, Dan teaches his students how change works ' on both a historical and personal scale ' and how to think for themselves.

Though Dan is brilliant, dynamic, and in control in the classroom, he spends his time outside school on the edge of consciousness. His disappointments and disillusionment have led to a serious drug habit. He juggles his hangovers and his homework, keeping his lives separated, until one of his troubled students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him getting high after school.

From this awkward beginning, Dan and Drey stumble into an unexpected friendship. Despite the differences in their ages and situations, they are both at an important intersection. Depending on which way they turn ' and which choices they make ' their lives will change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10627 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2007-02-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com

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

Stills from Half Nelson (click for larger image)

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The Films of Ryan Gosling

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Customer Reviews

A powerful and moving movie
A very good movie with excellent acting. Once you get beyond the hand-held digital video quality of this movie, you will find a story and acting that are both outstanding. Ryan Gosling certainly deserved his Oscar nomination for this role. His acting always felt genuine and believable, and he did an excellent job of portraying a good man battling his personal demons. Shareeka Epps is a surprising newcomer, and she did an excellent job in her role as well. Overall, this was a very good movie. Highly recommended.

Tedious
Ryan Gosling's a great actor who can tackle the quirky and dark stuff ... but after about five minutes of pouty/moody, self-defeating, drug-addled pointlessness and pseudo ghetto talk from a "teacher" who's planted himself in exactly the wrong place, this flick grows most annoying. When he starts with the "holla back" and such to his young charges, it's galling. This main character seeks the lowest (un)common denominator and wallows in it. Surely, it will appeal to all those types who revel in uninformed fantasies of "conquering" inner-city demons and performing some misguided sense of social charity. The teachers I know in the situations Mr. Gosling portrays can't wait to get the hell out of such schools; for in the real world, as Hollywood repeatedly fails to understand and portray, there's no silver lining there, no appreciation nor reward for such "chivalry."

Frailty & Magnificence
"Half Nelson" is not a pleasant film. It spoke to me of the imperfection of all human beings, no matter what color, gender or age. We see the young teacher Dan Dunne who is handsome and a dedicated teacher in a poor school. However, his personal life has fallen apart with his drug use. In the hands of another actor, the film would have been harder to watch. Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Actor for the film and won the honor for his Breakthrough Performance from the National Board of Review. He is befriended by his student Drey who seems to idolize her teacher, but then finds him smoking crack cocaine. Drey is played by Shareeka Epps who was also in the film short. She won Best Supporting Actress awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Society. It is a sensitive portrayal. Then Drey starts dealing; and we see her imperfection. Tina Holmes plays Rachel in the film and finds it hard to be with Dan. We see Dan's family, Drey's family, and many of the students in the school. Each is a product of their circumstances and their choices. I thought the film ended on a positive note as Dunne shaves his scraggly beard. Perhaps he has hit bottom and will start to pull himself together. The film was named Best Picture by the American Film Institute. It is difficult to watch in spots. It speaks to the frailty and magnificence that lie side by side in each of us. Enjoy!