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Theatrical Release
08/11/06 (LA/NY)
8/25/06 (Moderate)
9/15/06 (St. Louis)

Home Video
02/13/07

MPAA Rating
Rated R for drug content
throughout, language and
some sexuality

Running Time
1 hour 44 minutes

Genre
Drama

Director
Ryan Fleck

Writer
Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Cast
Ryan Gosling, Anthony
Mackie, Karen Chilton,
Monique Curnen, Shareeka
Epps, Tina Holmes, Collins
Pennie, Deborah Rush, Jay
O. Sanders, Sebastian Sozzi,
Nicole Vicius, Tristan Wilds

Studio
ThinkFilm
HALF NELSON
                      SYNOPSIS

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a young inner-city junior
high school teacher whose ideals wither and die in
the face of reality. Day after day in his shabby
Brooklyn classroom, he somehow finds the energy
to inspire his 13 and 14-year-olds to examine
everything from civil rights to the Civil War with a
new enthusiasm. Rejecting the standard curriculum
in favor of an edgier approach, Dan teaches his
students how change works ? on both a historical
and personal scale ? and how to think for
themselves.

Though Dan is brilliant, dynamic, and in control in
the classroom, he spends his time outside school
on the edge of consciousness. His disappointments
and disillusionment have led to a serious drug habit.
He juggles his hangovers and his homework,
keeping his lives separated, until one of his troubled
students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him getting
high after school.

From this awkward beginning, Dan and Drey stumble
into an unexpected friendship. Despite the
differences in their ages and situations, they are
both at an important intersection. Depending on
which way they turn - and which choices they make
- their lives will change.
--©Thinkfilm
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