[5]

Ryan Gosling stars as an inner-city junior high teacher with a drug habit. When one of his students finds him in a crack-induced stupor on the bathroom floor, the two strike up an unlikely relationship. Gosling and the girl (Shareeka Epps) are both very good and writer/directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Captain Marvel) keep it real — real far from sentimental, that is. I appreciated their voyeuristic look into these characters lives, but I have a strong personal distaste for movies about drug users who create their own misery. And that’s what’s going on here.

I should be rooting for Gosling’s character, I guess — hoping that he can kick the habit and be a responsible role model for this teenaged girl. But on a conceptual level, that’s just not a narrative that’s ever going to hook to me. Drugs have ruined so many relationships in my life, I know to run far away from anyone who’s on them. I didn’t respect Gosling’s character and didn’t want to get to know him any better. He’s already on drugs when the movie starts, so he’s lost. Just like most people who ever start taking drugs are lost. The path to redemption is so narrow and unlikely, that Half Nelson can only be a tragedy in my mind. The fact that it exists (seemingly) solely to humanize drug addicts and suggest that they can still be good people is wishful thinking. Drugs destroy everyone and everything. It’s just a matter of time.

Oscar Nomination: Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling)