Half Nelson 2006

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A wholly absorbing and delicately shaded portrait of an educator played by Ryan Gosling, a young man harboring an offstage secret. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: In the endlessly surprising Half Nelson, all those upbeat, Hollywood cliches about well-meaning outsiders making a difference are turned on their heads. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Gosling inhabits Dan with every feature of his face and particle of his body and soul. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: You're going to have to look for it. But please look for this movie. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: For a solid 107 minutes, Gosling shapes his character into a flesh-and-blood tone poem. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: For director Ryan Fleck, co-writer/producer/editor Anna Boden, and their remarkable cast, the solution is to underplay every scene and let the central character's ambiguities set a rocky course for the movie to follow. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: It's interested in how real people, not movie characters, might act in the situation. It is about all the gray areas, all the complexities, all the layers of meaning. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Gritty and terrifically human, Half Nelson is not your big brother's Hollywood high school movie. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Made with assurance, restraint and psychological acuity by director Ryan Fleck and anchored by Ryan Gosling's commanding performance, this paradigmatic American independent feature approaches recurring themes in a compelling new way. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: One might also argue that a crack addict couldn't be responsible enough to be a good teacher, but he's the most believable protagonist in any American movie I've seen this year. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It'll be weeks before I shake off [Gosling's] performance -- or the shadows of this small, extraordinary narrative-feature debut from filmmaking partners Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: One of the main strengths of Half Nelson is the plainspoken way it conveys the miseries of its people. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: The tone is even and thorough, the performances restrained and believable, the implied future bleak yet somehow satisfying. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Half Nelson offers an opportunity to marvel, once again, at the dazzling talent of Ryan Gosling for playing young men as believable as they are psychologically trip-wired. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Although the subject promises more than the film can deliver, there is compensation in Gosling's convincing, unromanticized portrayal of someone seeking escape from longing and loss that neither he nor the movie can really define. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: It all feels uncomfortably real, because we've known someone just like this, or maybe been him ourselves. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Amid all the might-have-been cliches, director Ryan Fleck and his co-screenwriter, Anna Boden, give us a movie about history and destiny. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Downbeat as it is, Half Nelson is a genuinely inspirational film -- a terrifically compelling character study and a tricky exploration of the links (and busted links) between the personal and the political. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Half Nelson certainly sees things in a new way. Unfortunately, it doesn't see them very clearly. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Ryan Gosling's self-destructive teacher is easily the year's most mesmerizing character study. And he's hardly the only reason to see this film. Shareeka Epps anchors her scenes as Drey with a self-possession way beyond her years. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson is one of the most compelling and idea-laden American indie films to come along in a while, and it features one of this year's finest performances from Ryan Gosling. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The key to the direction of all the performances is tactful restraint and nuanced modulation. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The movie comes down to Gosling's spot-on performance and how we feel about it. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Gosling is indeed amazing as a bewildered, depressed New York schoolteacher who is slipping into dire drug addiction; it's exactly the kind of star turn in a smaller film that Academy voters could (and should) notice. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: This is a film that knows something about how hope, when it comes, is always a surprise. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Half Nelson gives the musty theme a full twist, and what emerges seems remarkably fresh. And yet mature too. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Beneath the familiar veneer is a film of profound depths and churning undercurrents, and the result is a stark portrait of a world where nothing comes easy but just giving up. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Gosling and Epps, an unusual but effective pairing, show real commitment in their performances. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A compelling drama that establishes Ryan Gosling as one of the finest actors of his generation. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: A terrific performance by Ryan GoslingRyan Gosling is the chief but hardly sole reason to embrace Half Nelson. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: Sardonic yet moving, Half Nelson deftly outlines the perils of youthful idealism without lapsing into knee-jerk cynicism. Read more

Rob Nelson, Village Voice: Half Nelson drags the crowd-pleasing white-teacher-inspires-black-students movie onto the mat and pins the flabby genre in the first round. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Nearly every scene rings with its own ragged truth. Read more