Ian (Flash Review)Watch on gritty celluloid how a deep thinking guy "Dan", with a substance abuse problem while working as a white teacher in an inner city school, forms an unexpected bond with one of his students "Drey". There is an scene where Dan is found very vulnerable by Drey and she assists rather than judges him. They have a solid understanding of each other's life's hurdles and he feels the need to protect her from a bad slice of life. How will things play out? Will he overcome his own substance abuse challenges? This was a fairly subtle and calm drama for the subject matter and it tended to lack enough tension to be enthralling as found in Al Pacino's Panic In Needle Park, which this resembled. Yet Gosling and the female lead did a great job with a natural everyday portrayal of living with their circumstances. The film had lots of soft focus, shallow depth of field and organic cinematography. Solid but I personally needed a bit more drama.

Floated2 Half Nelson is a stunning and relatively independent drama starring Ryan Gosling. Here, Gosling plays a different character than what we are used to seeing, and he delivers one of his most sound and best performances. Half Nelson first appears to be a quiet and slow paced drama but as the film goes, it picks up the pace and becomes very engaging and interesting to watch. Although the film is most shot with very close angles and quality, it works in some parts as it is something to get used to. Slightly different than what was expected, Half Nelson is a very solid film that shows a good and real meaning, where there are people in the real world such as Ryan Gosling's character, having troubles and doing what is must in order to survive with such addictions. Recommend for a watch.

Kyle Perez As Dan Dunne wearingly slouches on a couch while his parents, completely oblivious to his condition, intoxicatingly prance around their living room, it becomes painfully apparent to us that he is fighting this battle completely by his lonesome. "I used to be so *beeped* up... but I *beepin* cleaned up" Dan later proudly professes to a teacher he's on a date with, as he proceeds to snort a line off his coke-riddled desk.Half Nelson is not so much a film as it is an in-depth character study, and a masterpiece it is in that regard. The story of Dan Dunne, a troubled (to put it mildly) history teacher is a a refreshingly sobering look - the irony - into the human experience. It provides us with little exposition into any of its characters lives but we learn a great deal of their hardship. And so, we too, like Dan, find ourselves adrift and in a state of confusion.Ryan Gosling is seriously good in this role. His portrayal of a nuanced, reticent, struggling man is about as accurate as one can come to expect. The way he delivers certain mannerisms is so spot on and makes his spiral into despair that much more believable. Also great in their roles are Anthony Mackie, as Frank, and Shareeka Epps, as Drey.But the mastery of Half Nelson stems from the power it punches in its raw subtlety. The writing, directing and acting are not presented as some didactic device that sets out to explore a resolution of its characters problems. Rather, this film depicts a true-to-life story that is as poignant as it is matter-of-fact. And perhaps that is why we are left feeling empty come the film's end - because, sometimes, life doesn't have the answers we have come to expect.

ICanNeverThinkOfAGoodUsername This film looks interesting and it seems like it will be good. In reality it's an extremely boring film. There is no character development... You barely find anything out about the characters. As someone else mentioned what you know at the start is literally what you know at the end.I wouldn't recommend this film because there is nothing to it. You gain nothing from watching this film. I expected something to happen but nothing did...It's a long film which drags on and nothing happens. You would expect to see some sort of development - not with this film.