Half Nelson

5/18/2024

Ryan Gosling is on very natural form here as the teacher "Dan" who has a bit of a drug habit after school. He's a good teacher. Well liked. A man who gets results from a class of students who would almost all rather be somewhere else, and he coaches the girls' basketball team too. Luckily for him, it's one of his pupils, "Drey" (Shareeka Epps), that discovers him a bit worse for wear in the school toilet and swiftly a friendship develops. It's one of mutual understanding. His life is a mess and she is having to deal with divorced and largely absent parents. Her brother "Mike" is in jail for drug offences, but quickly we learn that it's "Frank" (Anthony Mackie) who's really the culprit there. He tries to take care of the girl, but when the two men meet it's clear that "Dan" thinks" Frank" s