(Now, why didn’t I have a teacher like this growing up?)
CAST: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Karen Chilton, Nathan Corbett, Jay O. Sanders, Deborah Rush.
DIRECTOR: Ryan Fleck
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and questionable extra-curricular activities straight ahead…
"We are all sinners, but we can strive to do good..."
- Dan Dunne (RYAN GOSLING)
There is a kind of film that is becoming increasingly rare in cineplexes these days. The kind of film that doesn't have any exploding spaceships, or marauding aliens, or wisecracking detectives, or rampaging Transformers. The kind that doesn't feature suave secret agents saving the world from some bald bastard's plans for global control. The kind of film that isn't full of cutesy contrivances and sugar-coated plot twists that all but guarantee a warm, if exceedingly false, fuzzie. The kind that doesn't have sexy, beautiful, upwardly mobile people going around like their silly "problems" are of the earth-shattering variety.
Nope. This kind of film isn't about glamorous people or high-concept premises. It's about people who are barely hanging on, eking out an existence that can best be described as day-to-day. It's about mundane things that still have the capacity to either break or lift them. And unlike characters in a movie about alien invasions or rampaging robots or treacherous secret agents, the greatest risk that these people face is summoning the courage to cross the great chasm that sometimes exists between two human beings. Or recognizing that they need to change - and forcing themselves to do so. Aren't those the greatest risks of all?
HALF-NELSON is that kind of film. No one in it is in a glamorous profession. Unless you count teaching middle school to inner-city kids glamorous. Important, admirable, even noble maybe - but definitely not glamorous. The hero of this flick is Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling). Dan is the kind of history teacher that everyone wishes they had: nice, but no pushover; intelligent, but also streetwise; edgy, but not too outlandish; fun, but with a purpose. In fact, Dan could probably be easily voted a Teacher of the Year by his students - if it weren't for one small inconvenient detail.
He's kind of a crackhead. And by "crackhead", I don't mean someone with a goofily bizarre sense of humor. Rather, I literally mean someone who smokes heroine and crack. Kind of puts a damper on the "cool teacher" image.
While it seems that Dan is alive and assured in the classroom, outside of it he's completely adrift. He spends his nights trying and failing to make connections at local nightclubs. Perhaps someone should have clued him in to the fact that women don't go to those places to hear studs wax philosophically about "changing just one person" or some other such shit. Nope, they come there to, well, come. If you know what I mean.
Suffice it to say, Dan usually goes home alone. By way of his friendly neighborhood drug dealer's place, that is. There, he picks up just enough heroine and smack to numb him to his horrendous night-club experiences. Sorry, but I have to say those women must be the crackheads themselves. If I was a chick who was listening to a Ryan Gosling-lookalike talk about change, even if I wasn't interested, I would totally play along because.... HE LOOKS LIKE RYAN GOSLING! Stupid bitches.
To make matters worse, Dan's kind of the black sheep of his family. His dad (Jay O. Sanders) mocks his efforts to write a novel, while his mother (Deborah Rush) seems to be completely oblivious to what a fucking asshole she married and what a dick he is to their son. I hope that pot roast is par excellence, otherwise I just don't see why the hell Dan would subject himself to those family dinners.
Anyhow, this is Dan's existence, and it's a pretty bleak one.
Things take a turn for the interesting when he smokes some crack in the girl's locker room one day after school - and is actually caught by one of his students. She is Drey (Shareeka Epps), one of Dan's smarter pupils. Evidently already a class act at the young age of 13, Drey doesn't freak out and pass judgement on her wasted teacher. Instead, she actually stays there and comforts him while he lies on the bathroom floor.
And so begins the unlikely friendship between Dan and Drey. Between crack-addicted teacher and wise-beyond-her-years student. Drey's own existence is almost as dreary as Dan's. To wit: (1) She hardly ever sees her over-worked mother (Karen Chilton ), (2) her brother is in the slammer for drug dealing; and (3) she is starting down the same path by acting as a drug mule for a local small-time dealer (Anthony Mackie). To say the Drey is at risk is like saying that Dan comes to work sometimes with bloodshot eyes.
Will Dan be able to save Drey from winding up just like her brother? Will he convince that drug dealer to leave her alone? Will Dan himself continue to spiral downward in a haze of crack addiction? Or will Drey exert a positive influence on him? How can these two help each other when they can barely help themselves? Can these people be saved? Most importantly: how can those sluts at the night club let someone like Ryan Gosling slip through their fingers?
Oh, well. More for me. High maintenance tramps.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: I hope my intro doesn’t mark me as a film snob. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog knows that I love explosions, thrills, cheese, and James Bond just as much as the next film freak. However, I do have moments where I don’t want to see something extravagantly commercial, no matter how well-made. During those times, I crave quiet little films about the unsung and unglamorous, about stories that unfold out of the glare of the spotlight. Movies that don’t have a single special effects shot, but instead are filled with quite moments that are filled with unspoken truths.
HALF NELSON is, put simply, a triumph of unspoken emotion and cinematic integrity. It’s premise - drug-addicted teacher finds redemption in friendship with troubled student - could have easily been given the Hollywood treatment with the right budget and the wrong producers. Instead, director Ryan Fleck doesn’t force the story into any kind of pre-fab 3-act structure. He lets the characters tell the story - through their actions, reactions, decisions, and emotions. The plot is dictated by the characters, and not the other way around. This gives everything that happens the ring of truth.
This organic method of storytelling creates some surprises in the story that would not have been possible in a more conventional film. In that kind of film, Dan Dunne’s character arc would have been predictable to the point of triteness. Here, it is erratic and very much of the “one step forward, five steps back” variety. When he confronts the local drug dealer whom Drey’s been working for, he isn’t quite as effective as he would like. In a studio film, the scene would’ve played out like something from the climax of GRAN TORINO. Which is not saying GRAN TORINO is a bad film. Obviously, it is not. It just exists in a more “Hollywood” world.
Ryan Gosling, in a word, is sensational. I had seen him in films like FRACTURE, MURDER BY NUMBERS, and THE NOTEBOOK, but none of those movies showcased his breathtaking talents to the extent that HALF-NELSON does. Clearly, Dan is a man of remarkable depth and intelligence. It’s these very same qualities, though, that somehow distance him from those around him. The scene at the bar where he tries to explain the importance of changing just one kid’s life to a couple of airheads who are more interested in dancing and drinking is both telling and heartbreaking. This, coupled with the scene at his parents’ house, clearly illustrate Dan’s sense of isolation - even in a crowd that he appears to be having fun with. You have to wonder if he’d have gone so far into using drugs if he’d had even just one real friend that truly understood him and could see into his heart, instead of a bunch of casual acquaintances who don’t really care about him.
There’s a wrenching scene where Dan goes to a bar and picks up a lady. He takes her back to a motel, but instead of having sex with her, Dan pours his heart out. He tells her about how teaching the kids is what keeps him going, as well as other revelations that he probably wouldn’t share with someone he knew better. This scene vividly illustrates that idea of “the comfort of strangers.” The scene ends with Dan and the lady slow dancing, fully-clothed, in the middle of the room. Connected, if for only a brief moment.
Yet, Dan is also capable of rising above his own pain. This is abundantly clear whenever he is in the classroom. It’s obvious that the truly cares about the students and wants to help them change. It’s even more obvious in his relationship with Drey. The catalyst of their friendship is when Drey discovers him high on crack in the girls’ locker room. This shared secret binds them together. When Drey stays with Dan as he lies on the locker room floor, it’s almost as if she’s saving his life by showing him some kindness and understanding when he needs it the most. Dan returns the favor by trying to extricate Drey from her association with the local drug dealer. But he’s also doing it because he cares about Drey since she’s one of his students - and if there’s one thing he takes seriously, it’s his role as a teacher.
As Drey, Shareeka Epps is equally good. Displaying a poise and resignation that is well beyond her age, Epps nails her role, turning Drey into a compelling combo of uncertainty, grit, wisdom, and unforgettable kindness. We sense that she has the smarts to rise above her present environment, but just like many bright kids before her, she may not be able to withstand some of its negative influences. Without saying too many words, we get a vivid picture of a girl who knows she can fall of the deep end like her brother - but isn’t sure where the drop-off is. Epps is also absolutely terrific in the movie’s final scenes, where she makes another touching gesture towards her troubled teacher - which leads to one of the most wonderful endings I‘ve ever seen. Wonderful, but still very believable. Not everything is resolved, but there is hope. And that is something isn’t it
If you haven’t seen HALF-NELSON. See it now. It will break you heart, make you smile, break your heart again, make you cringe, break your heart once more, then lift you up. It’s unforgettable, just like the people in it - and the actors playing them.
And I am forever grateful to the friend who recommended this film to me. This movie's a keeper...
