Review of Half Nelson (2006) by Lorenzo V — 15 Jul 2010
"Secrets don't let go.".
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.
REVIEW.
Stark and riveting, "Half Nelson" proves we don't need 'reality' entertainment from Hollywood: this seems real enough. Junior High history teacher and girls' basketball coach Ryan Gosling crawls into a crack-clouded fog once he gets home; one of his inner-city students knows his secret, yet she is harboring troubles of her own. Gosling is inherently charismatic and intrinsically smart while working from a gut instinct, resulting in a performance that is constantly surprising, always unpredictable; as an actor, he is so focused (and brave) that we don't recoil from him even as his character is turned inside-out, showing us behavior that is hardly pretty. He may be the finest young actor of this new century--there isn't anyone else out there who can touch him. The supporting cast is equally strong, aided by an outstanding screenplay from Anna Boden and director Ryan Fleck, who shies away from both sentimentality and melodramatic sensationalism. "Half Nelson" is so good, critics run the risk of over-praising it. It is mainly a quiet movie, a character study in a lower key, and yet what we absorb from it can last for days.
This review of Half Nelson (2006) was written by Lorenzo V on 15 Jul 2010.
Half Nelson has generally received very positive reviews.
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