"Half Nelson" -- not to be missed

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 10:09am

As summer wanes, the smaller films stand out ("Heading South") and sometimes slip away too fast. "Nelson" is a very powerful story that turns the treacly To Sir With Love mythology inside out. And it features a startling performance from Ryan Gosling as a world-weary burnt-out urban teacher, whose addiction issues are handled in radical new way (no Lifetime movie, this); he crawls inside this self-sabotaging man, to create someone we've never seen before; to my thinking, a great piece of work, awards worthy, if it's remembered. This troubled teacher/troubled student story breaks new ground in just about every scene, and features a terrific supporting cast of theater pros, like Dennis O'Hare, Deborah Rush and Jay O. Sanders.

Any posters here in major cities where it's playing -- go see it. I think it suffers from a weak title, and a hard-to-ascertain subject. I would think it this year's "Squid and the Whale,"only stronger and more relevant.

Updated On: 8/23/06 at 10:09 AM

[pab]

Posted: 8/23/06 at 11:01am

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=off&thread=907426