The Filtnib’s Progress

Filmed jerkily and using desaturated, low contrast stock, Half Nelson is slightly abrasive to watch, at least at first. It takes a while to adjust to the almost constant movement of the camera and the slight shudder as it pans across a classroom.

Yet within minutes, the actions of the characters on screen are so intriguing, so contradictory, that you all but forget you are watching a film. And with that, the handheld immediacy of the cinematography stops being distracting and just brings you incredibly close to the story and its actors, in a way that a smoothly shot piece of Hollywood eye-candy never could.

I came out of the cinema with that odd, slightly disturbing sense that the reality of the film was temporarily more real than the reality I was exiting into; the last time I felt like that was after Rian Johnson’s neo-noir
Brick last year with the iconic Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The other film that Half Nelson bears comparison to is Requiem for a Dream; both deal with the terrifying costs of drug addiction, but while Requiem was so tragic as to become almost unwatchable, Half Nelson matches heartbreaking sadness with a gentle but insistent beat of redemption.

The casting is inspired; Ryan Gosling, Oscar-nominated for his performance as an unconventional, deeply troubled history teacher, is at once lovable, sexy and deeply pathetic. The only thing that took my eyes off him was a truly incredible performance by Shareeka Epps, in her feature film debut. Aged 17, the stillness of her face is broken only by the watchfulness of her world-weary eyes.

I don’t want to talk too much about the plot, except to say that although it sounds like the ultimate cliched, overdone storyline – white middle-class well-intentioned teacher makes personal sacrifices to teach in a school of deprived kids and manages to inspire them – Half Nelson transcends that genre; it’s more about politics and the burden of thoughtfulness than it is about education.

There’s no sentimentality here, just a raw kind of honesty and a great deal of intelligence. The editing is bold and imaginative, with great use of ellipsis, especially at the start; I suspect this might have been necessitated by an overlong running time. As it is the film could still benefit from being a wee bit shorter, but this is a minor caveat. All in all, unmissable, and a triumph for rising indie filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Columbia and NYU graduates who are not only hugely talented and have made a fantastic film, but are also going out!?? I’m putting my jealousy aside. Good job guys.