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Inner-City Drama Chronicles Unlikely
Bond between White Teacher and Black Student
Dan (Ryan Gosling) is a dedicated teacher and basketball coach at a dilapidated
junior high located in a Brooklyn ghetto. One of his students, 13 year-old
Drey (Shareeka Epps), is a latch-key kid who is at-risk because of the absence
of parental supervision after school. Normally, Dan and Drey would have nothing
to do with each other outside of the classroom, not only because of the age
difference, but because he’s white and lives in the suburbs, while she’s
black and stuck struggling with her single-mom in the ‘hood. However,
Dan has a drug problem, being addicted to crack, and his student-teacher relationship
with Drey is altered irreversibly the day she observes him getting high in
the girls’ locker room. She chooses to keep his secret, and in return
he takes a personal interest in her well-being, crossing an ethical line by
secretly involving himself in her personal life after 3PM. For instance, he
drives her home one day and despite his own addiction, warns her to keep her
distance from Frank (Anthony Mackie), a dealer on her block who’d like
to get the young girl hooked on narcotics.
Thus unfolds Half Nelson, an unlikely buddy drama directed by Ryan Fleck. The
infuriating flaw of this deliberately-paced slice-of-life drama is that it is
a tad too understated for its own good. While based on a plausible plot and well-executed
by a capable cast, nothing much exciting ever happens in this contemplative mood
piece.
So, by the time the closing credits roll on this headscratcher, don’t be
surprised to be asking yourself, “Is that it?” A teenager befriends
her teacher without anything kinky occurring or any dire consequences. Perhaps
I’ve simply seen so many ghetto fabulous adventures filled with all manner
of over-the-top displays of nudity, bling, murder, gunplay, sadism, overdosing,
rape, expletives, ethnic slurs and major mayhem, that a story this sedate just
doesn’t satisfy what I’ve come to expect of the genre.You gotta gimme
something to sink my teeth into. The picture’s most passionate exchange
went like this:
Dan: I’m your teacher, not your friend.
Drey: Asshole!
Dan: Bitch.
Yawn. Half Nelson? A half-hearted study in black and white which
never dares to take enough risks to make it worth the watch.
Good (2 stars)
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