Half Nelson

[Guest Rotblatt]

Just saw it. Loved it. Anyone else have an opinion?

[Guest Rotblatt]

It's about a young, white history teacher whose school is in a poor, black, Brooklyn neighborhood--and he's a crack addict. It's disturbing and smart, and the performances of the two leads . . . The lead actor is amazing, and he's more than matched by the lead actress, who plays one of his students. She presents this wounded toughness that's just heart-rending to watch, and when she allows herself to smile . . .

Go see it. The plot in any teasers you see might sound a bit trite, but the performances make every turn and twist completely earned. In terms of the cinematography, the mostly hand-held style is a little disorienting, particularly when Teach is high. They also break up scenes with an off-putting device of showing grainy footage of students reading blurbs of revolutionary history, which bothers me more in retrospect than it did at the time. Maybe a little heavy handed with the history as metaphor all in all, but at any rate, this is definitely one of the best movies I've seen this year. And in terms of acting, I can't remember when I've seen a better tandem.

[Guest sharpie]

I saw it last week. Liked it a lot. The actress playing the student was amazing. 'Course I live in Brooklyn and have kids in the schools so maybe it was scarier for me than most.