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Half Nelson

United States

2006

106 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
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DIR Ryan Fleck

EXEC Paul S. Mezey, Charlie Corwin, Doug Dey, Scott London, Clara Markowicz

PROD Anna Boden, Lynette Howell, Rosanne Korenberg, Jamie Patricof, Alex Orlovsky

SCR Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden

DP Andrij Parekh

CAST Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Karen Chilton, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Collins Pennie, Jay O. Sanders, Deborah Rush, Nicole Vicius, David Easton, Denis O'Hare, Starla Benford, Tristan Wilds

ED Anna Boden

PROD DES Beth Mickle

MUSIC Broken Social Scene

SOUND Tom Efinger

Sundance (Dramatic Competition), Locarno (International Competition): Special Prize of the Jury, Youth Jury Award - Special Mention, San Francisco: FIPRESCI Prize, Stockholm (Competition): Best Actor

Synopsis

Ryan Fleck returns to Sundance with Half Nelson, a feature-length version of his Jury Prize-winning short, Gowanus, Brooklyn, that looks at an unlikely friendship that brings hope to a man trapped by his own demons.

Dan Dunne is an idealistic inner-city junior high school teacher. Though he can get it together in the classroom, he spends his time outside school on the edge of consciousness. He juggles his hangovers and his homework, keeping his lives precariously separated, until one of his troubled students, Drey, catches him in a compromising situation. From this awkward beginning, Dan and Drey stumble into an unexpected friendship that threatens either to undo them, or to provide the vital change they both need to move forward in their lives.

Half Nelson neither condemns nor sanctions Dan’s actions, but rather depicts characters who are “wrestling” with various aspects of themselves and their roles in the larger world around them. Ryan Gosling perfectly renders Dan, imbuing him with layers and dimensions rarely seen in film. Equally exciting is newcomer Shareeka Epps’s performance as Drey; she displays a remarkable ability to convey both wisdom and innocence. Fleck has delicately crafted a film about the universal struggle to achieve vital change in one’s life—and also about the role friendship can play in that struggle. –Sundance

Director

Original

Ryan Fleck

Ryan K. Fleck (born September 20, 1976) is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known for directing and writing the 2006 film Half Nelson and the 2008 film Sugar. He is known for his collaborations with fellow filmmaker Anna Boden.

Fleck was born in Berkeley, California and raised in Berkeley and Oakland, California. He attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he studied film. At this time he met Anna Boden on the set of a student film and, after he finished his thesis short film Struggle, they began dating and decided to collaborate. Together they made the short documentaries Have You Seen This Man? and Young Rebels before they wrote and he directed the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, a sample feature aiming to attract potential financiers to their undeveloped script, Half Nelson.The short won a prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and Fleck and Boden were subsequently invited to the Sundance Writer’s Lab to receive… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 38 wall posts.
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porcelainfox

4Apr13

Definitely a complex, thought-provoking piece with some great performances - especially from Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps.

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Ryan Borja

27Jan13

One of the best films of the last decade and could still ring to be true this decade and next. Near-perfect independent film that's a must and essential film for any lover of independent cinema. Ryan Gosling is amazing while Shareeka Epps was able to match that caliber. Powerful, heartbreaking the next and finally hopeful.

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Pavel

11Jan13

Before he became a star, a lot of people forgot Ryan Gosling had such humble beginnings. Half Nelson gives us one of his many uncommonly good performances, as a "base head" teacher. Ryan Fleck gives us a portrayal of loneliness that is sad, realistic and lacking any kind of a happy ending.

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Articles

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Half Nelson Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
[This review originally posted in our forum by Twitch regular Mike Rot, from whence I have copied it and moved it here so that the ‘front-page-only’ set may admire it as much as I do.] If there was any……
read on Twitchfilm.com

Half Nelson Review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
[This review originally posted in our forum by Twitch regular Mike Rot, from whence I have copied it and moved it here so that the ‘front-page-only’ set may admire it as much as I do.] If there was any…
read on Twitchfilm.net

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Untitled

By Andy on November 5, 2009

Under all its quiet nuances lies a film full of anger and political rage. Half Nelson displays the failure to communicate between people, emotions, lovers and your self. A story about a friendship…  read review

Untitled

By Chris B on January 24, 2009

one of the things i liked most about this movie is the fact that it doesn’t fall into the patronizing trap of sensitive white guy saves a black youth. the relationship between the two main characters…  read review

Untitled

By jaredmo​barak on November 25, 2008

It’s the end of summer; time to dump all those films that wouldn’t hold up as summer blockbusters and gear up for award season. Lucky we have our trusty indie theatres, saving us from the boredom of…  read review

Untitled

By Sarah on May 9, 2008

Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to watch this when in came here in the UK back in April 2007, because it naturally shows in cities in not in my town. Luckily I was able to rent it out on DVD…  read review

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