Half Nelson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jeff Lima, Nathan Corbett, Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Tyra Kwao-VovoBrand: GOSLING,RYAN
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
Published: 2007-02-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Half Nelson
Movie Review: "Can You Help Me Up?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Half Nelson begins with a whole lot of alarms going off. It opens with an insistent clock radio, buzzing inside a sparely-furnished apartment. The first internal shot of a Brooklyn school also features an alarm bell blaring in the background. And our first glimpse of teacher Dan Dunne's disheveled appearance (both at home and at work) is in itself alarming.
You might think these signals serve as some kind of warning for the events to follow. And you would be right, to a point. For while the cinematic ride that ensues is bound to set off all kinds of internal warnings in the viewer, as it edges quite close to crossing some very-uncomfortable lines, the movie itself is so good that it left me feeling wide awake and strangely refreshed - alarming though it may be.
The film, whose title is (according to the filmmakers' commentary) a "metaphor for being caught in an uncomfortable position and trying to get out of it," features two main characters who are thusly bound, both striving to - if not break free - at least achieve a more manageable level of comfort inside of their strangling situations.
There's the aforementioned Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling, in his second Oscar-worthy performance along with his role in "The Believer"), the wry, self-defeated, likeable but oh-so-very-flawed teacher who wants to change the world while not being able to change himself. And there's the shy but defiant, independent, fiercely-intelligent Drey (in a strikingly real performance by first-time actress Shareeka Epps, who deserved an Oscar Nomination far more than Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin ever did), attempting to negotiate her way through an obstacle-filled life maze of inner city circumstances (i.e. absentee father, mother never home, brother in prison, and drug dealers offering ways out).
Though they're both loners at heart, they forge a bond from an unorthodox yet catalyzing moment, when Drey catches Dan doing drugs in the school bathroom. In an extended, mostly dialog-free scene that lets the audience really soak in the discomfort of the moment, Drey begins to tend to Dan as he cannot tend to himself. And when Dan finally feels well enough to ask his student, "Can you help me up?" this innocent-seeming request really sets the stage for the rest of the film, as we see whether their unusual alliance can indeed serve to help Dan up and out of his downward spiral.
Besides the unparalleled acting, in my estimation this film rises above almost all other 2006 movie offerings for two reasons: the writing and the editing. Or maybe in this case I should say the lack of writing. Because this is one of those films where the acting is so good that there's no need for a lot of expositional dialog (which is my least favorite kind). So the actors in this case say a lot more about their histories and relationships with their eyes, faces and postures than they ever could with their words. I find this to be a rare state of affairs in movies (especially American film) these days and so it is to be treasured whenever I find it.
And the editing is smart enough to follow suit and take its cues from the streamlined, non-verbal exposition. Thus, this masterfully-edited film has many scenes which cut away sooner than a more conventional film would, trusting the audience to fill in the blanks themselves rather than spelling the situation out for them. This really helps to keep a film without a lot of plotting from becoming too plodding.
Half Nelson was one of my favorite movies of 2006, but the DVD is actually even better due to the insightful and engaging commentary provided by writer/director Ryan Fleck and writer/editor/producer Anna Boden. That makes this DVD a definite must own, even if the other features are somewhat lacking (6 minutes of only mildly-amusing outtakes, 4 minutes of wisely-deleted scenes, and 4 extended scenes that can't be played all at once and have to be chosen individually. Plus a music video which I found to be rather extraneous).
Finally, a note of caution: if you rely on closed-captioning, the English subtitles are horrible. Any time someone new speaks or something new is said, the previous sentence disappears from the screen, oftentimes in a split second. So approach this one with caution if you're hard of hearing. But that is my only word of warning for this otherwise outstanding film and DVD.
Summary of Half Nelson
An unlikely friendship develops between a teacher with a drug addiction and one of his students.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-JUL-2007
Media Type: DVD
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