Half Nelson (2006)

An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.

Director:

Ryan Fleck

Writers:

Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden

Stars:

Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Shareeka Epps

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 29 wins & 47 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Gosling	...	Dan Dunne
Jeff Lima	...	Roodly
Shareeka Epps	...	Drey
Nathan Corbett	...	Terrance
Tyra Kwao-Vovo	...	Stacy
Rosemary Ledee	...	Gina
Tristan Mack Wilds	...	Jamal (as Tristan Wilds)
Bryce Silver	...	Bernard
Kaela C. Pabon	...	Lena
Erica Rivera	...	Erika (as Erika Rivera)
Stephanie Bast	...	Vanessa
Eleanor Hutchins	...	Simone
Sebastian Sozzi	...	Javier
Tina Holmes	...	Rachel
Karen Chilton	...	Karen

Storyline

Young Caucasian Dan Dunne teaches history and coaches the girls basketball team at a Brooklyn high school populated primarily by black and Hispanic students. To the chagrin of his superiors, Dan bucks the outlined curriculum of historical facts in favor of the philosophy of historical events, generally discussing the concept of dialectics. As such, he captures the imagination of his students, at least in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, Dan's life is in shambles. He has a distant but cordial relationship with his family. He uses illicit drugs rampantly. Although his former girlfriend Rachel was able to clean up her drug habit, Dan believes that rehab will not work for him. Due to a combination of these issues, he treats women poorly. Thirteen year old Drey is a student in his class and a player on his basketball team. Drey has her own problems. Her parents are divorced, with her father a virtually non-existent figure in her life and her EMT mother generally absent as she is ...

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Plot Keywords:

classroom | teacher | student | drugs | class | 

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Taglines:

Secrets don't let go.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug content throughout, language and some sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

When on the subject, Ryan Gosling's character says "It's just not cool to be a Nazi anymore, baby." Gosling played a Neo-Nazi in 'The Believer'.

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Quotes

Dan: I used to be so fucked. I used to be so fucked up. I was just out there. You know? But I fucking cleaned up. I cleaned up,
[snorts a line of cocaine]
Dan: For the most part. I do it now to get by, but I can handle it. You know what I mean? I tried the rehab thing. I tried it. But it didn't work, Didn't work. It works for some people. My ex girlfriend is getting married. That's how it works for some people. Right? Didn't work for me. The kids keep me focused. And I...

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Back to School Special (2012)

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Soundtracks

Save the Last Breath
Written and Performed by KC Accidental
Published by Arts & Crafts Music
Courtesy of Noise Factory Records
From the album "Captured Anthems for an Empty Bathtub"

User Reviews

The 'dialectics' indie filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden created in "Half Nelson" is realized by Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps' unarguably nuanced performances

Ryan Gosling is truly amazing in his film role deliveries. His breakthrough role in "The Believer" 2001 was explosively intense. He consistently gives integral reflective portrayals, even for a departure romantic role in director Nick Cassavetes' "The Notebook" 2004, he was absolutely convincing as Noah who loves Rachel McAdam's Allie to the core. Here in "Half Nelson," he appears to disappear into Dan Dunne, a high school teacher with an ideal and a crack addiction problem. That sure sounds contradictory in terms: a teacher being a role model, while drug addiction a totally unacceptable behavior. As Dunne wrote on the blackboard in the beginning: 'Dialectics,' the film "Half Nelson" is in itself dialectics demonstrated.

Gosling's Mr. Dunne the history 'teach' doubling also as basketball coach, meeting (a solid matching delivery from) Shareeka Epps' Drey, the 13-year old student who 'found' him and 'witnessed' his secret - theirs is a relationship, naturally portrayed, of two 'opposing' forces as dialectics as can be. I felt Drey is the primary force that 'helped' Dunne's secondary force to yield and together, they created a contradiction anew as life goes on.

I remember from a 1969 book, a quote that might describe the heart of "Half Nelson": "Contradictions are the source of all movement and of all life. All things are in themselves contradictory and it is this principle, more than any other, which expresses the essence of things."

In a way, contradictory yet similar: Dunne and Drey both are 'on their own' trying to hang on, to manage the conflicts in their life's journey. Do we need all the answers in life? Do we have to know why someone behave as he/she does or something happen as it did? Director Ryan Fleck and co-writer/editor/producer Anna Boden tried not to 'over-explain anything'. Sometimes the answer can simply be: "I don't know."

"Half Nelson" is an ambitious film. Besides 'comments' on educational system, single parent family strife, Dan's addiction predicament, the script also managed to include political viewpoints unobtrusively expressed through talking heads of single student reciting historical civil rights movement events. The 'R' rating does indicate some intimate scenes, clever inter-cuts juxtaposing what the two forces were each doing at the moment. Music (by "Broken-Social-Scene") is timely applied at certain segments but sparingly. Well-rounded supporting cast, especially Anthony Mackie as Frank the 'friendly' dealer who may want to do right by Drey but only in the way he knows how within the realms of selling drugs (reminds me of w-d Boaz Yakin's "Fresh" 1994, brilliant debut performance by Sean Nelson as the 12-year old interacting with a dealer 'mentor').

Kudos to all involved on "Half Nelson". The film was shot in Brooklyn, New York. Thanks to ThinkFilm for being the distributor (documentary: Spellbound; Murderball; March of the Penguins; drama: The Last Kiss - Italy; Kontroll - Hungary; Gus Van Sant's Gerry).

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Half Nelson

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$53,983, 13 August 2006

Gross USA:

$2,697,938

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,660,481

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hunting Lane Films, Journeyman Pictures, Silverwood Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1