I got to see Half Nelson at one of the art house theaters in my native city of Buffalo and quite frankly I did not know what to make of it. Though I thought the acting was exceptional, especially Ryan Gosling, the story itself and the characters was something I couldn't get into.
Very simply, Ryan Gosling is an inner city junior high school teacher who looks very much like the kind that I would have liked to have had more of back in the day. He's a bright, witty guy who really does relate to his students even though he's white and they're mostly black.
One of them discovers he's got a drug habit, Gosling scores from one of the local dealers in her neighborhood. As you can imagine things just aren't the same after that.
Though his performance is exceptional and maybe even deserving of the Oscar nomination for Best Actor he got, I just could not get up any sympathy over him. He's upset over the state of things in the good old USA, well too bad, a lot of us are, very few of us turn to drugs as are chosen method of protest.
In the end I could not figure out what the point of Half Nelson was. Fans of Ryan Gosling will probably like it though.
Very simply, Ryan Gosling is an inner city junior high school teacher who looks very much like the kind that I would have liked to have had more of back in the day. He's a bright, witty guy who really does relate to his students even though he's white and they're mostly black.
One of them discovers he's got a drug habit, Gosling scores from one of the local dealers in her neighborhood. As you can imagine things just aren't the same after that.
Though his performance is exceptional and maybe even deserving of the Oscar nomination for Best Actor he got, I just could not get up any sympathy over him. He's upset over the state of things in the good old USA, well too bad, a lot of us are, very few of us turn to drugs as are chosen method of protest.
In the end I could not figure out what the point of Half Nelson was. Fans of Ryan Gosling will probably like it though.