Half Nelson — for which young star Ryan
Gosling has been deservingly nominated for a Best Actor Oscar — is every bit an
achingly perfect indie film, from its subject matter to the manner it defaults
to jittery close-ups when it doesn’t really know what else to do with its
framing and mise en scène. When
combined with its tragic subject matter, this steadfast adherence to overt
impressionism sometimes comes off as a bit manipulative and calculated. Still,
for the most part, the artistry herein wins one over, because you at least have
complicated characters rubbed raw up against one another — a sight far too rare
in mainstream Hollywood product.

By day, idealistic, easygoing Dan Dunne (Gosling) struggles
to reach the underprivileged, predominantly African-American students in his Brooklyn
high school classroom, where he coaches the girls’ basketball team and inspires
his pupils to examine everything from the civil rights movement to the Civil
War with a methodology that leans more on ramshackle, open-ended debate than strict
lecture. By night, though, Dan struggles with alcoholism and an addiction to
crack cocaine, as well as the accumulated weight of all of his disappointments
and disillusionment. Juggling hangovers and homework, Dan keeps his
precariously compartmentalized lives for the most part separated until one of
his students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him, broken down and in the act of
getting high in the locker room after a basketball game. From there, the pair forms
an unlikely and unexpectedly deep friendship — each wordlessly goading the
other into some form of change or self-betterment — that could have potentially
life-altering consequences for each of them.

Co-screenwriters Ryan Fleck (who also directed the movie)
and Anna Boden developed the script several years ago at the Sundance
Screenwriters Lab and, with little money or resources available to produce a
feature, refashioned the story into short form and shot Gowanus, Brooklyn (so named for its setting) on digital video with
friends and local kids as their cast and crew. Once that won the Grand Jury
Prize for shorts at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, the duo then went ahead
with efforts to mount a full-fledged feature, finding a successful, equally
devoted collaborator in Gosling.

As previously noted, director Fleck trades heartily in
instinctive, verité filmmaking technique, though it frequently seems as much by
nature of budgeted necessity as intellectual approach. Half Nelson is pitiless and full of muddied absolutes, but for the
most part free of calluses — perhaps too much so. The absolute brilliance of
some self-contained scenes — Dan angrily confronting nearby drug peddler Frank (Anthony
Mackie) about Drey, only to have his antagonism melt away in a fit of silently
acknowledged hypocrisy and the casually floated proposition of a free score —
leaves one wanting for a slightly more formalized structure and style. The
floating frames of cinematographer Andrij Parekh’s handheld close-ups sometimes
wear out their welcome, and there is too little sense of logical progression
from scene to scene, too little mooring in the movie’s plump, listless second
act.

What easily redeems Half
Nelson, though, are its characters and superb acting. In Frank and Dan,
Drey is caught between two poles — neither a traditional or proper role model,
yet each attempting in their own way to help shepherd her through adolescence.
Epps’ beautifully low-key performance perfectly captures her commingled
affection for and disappointment in Dan; it’s not a tawdry loss of her own
innocence so much as a slow slide through bystander’s observation, and this is
more emblematic, I feel, of adolescence’s surrender to pessimism.

Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen that preserves the
aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition, Half Nelson comes with English language Dolby digital 5.1 and
stereo audio tracks, as well as optional English and Spanish subtitles. The DVD
comes with a low-key feature-length audio commentary track from Fleck and
Boden; praise runs wide and deep for both Gosling and Epps, and they comment on
the film’s roots in the aforementioned short and paring process en route to the
big screen. Three deleted scenes run a combined three-and-a-half minutes, while
four extended scenes clock in at the same amount. There are no wild new
discoveries here, but a bit more of an establishment of Drey as an adolescent
in a scene that showcases a reliance on manipulation. Seven minutes of outtakes
and a music video (Rhymefest’s “Wanted”) otherwise complement the release; the
only thing missing — and it’s a big hole — is face time with Gosling, a
reluctant star who won’t be forever able to avoid the spotlight if he keeps
delivering the type of fiercely mesmerizing performance he does in Half Nelson. B (Movie) B+ (Disc)