Why Not Full? 

I’ve realized that I’m a total sucker for a good unconventional buddy movie. Euge’s latest post talks about one great recent example, so i’ll leave the discussion of Black Snake Moan to him. Some of my other favorites include My First Mister, Rushmore and Lost in Translation.

You know, platonic love stories that happen between two unlikely candidates. I love the restraint and talent it takes to make a movie where the plot doesn’t take the totally obvious and cliche route and turn into a love story. I mean the falling in love kind. I’m into the exploration of other kinds of love. Ones that don’t inevitably end in the bumping of uglies. I guess friendship would be the word I am looking for here. I enjoy movies about friendship. Good ones! Not Bad Boys II or Rush Hour X. Oh please, by the next Rush Hour Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are most definitely going to be bumping uglies. I can see the script now… “I love you! Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

What I really wanted to mention by bringing this up is that I recently saw a great example of the kind of film I’m talking about, and I’ve had no one to discuss it with, because I don’t know anyone else who’s seen it yet. The movie is Half Nelson and I watched it on video a few weeks ago. I have a newly developed crush on Ryan Gosling now because of it (who I think before this I had only seen in The United States of Leland and, cough, Murder by Numbers. No, I didn’t see The Notebook.) It was the kind of performance where if he looked at anything – an orange, a cigarette, a piece of trash – I wanted to start crying. The guy could teach a class in perfecting “sad eyes.” It was that kind of movie, so maybe you have to be in a certain kind of mood or long term depression like myself to be affected by it. But he got me nonetheless.

It’s a story about Gosling, the city high school teacher by day, drug addict by night, and his friendship with one of his students, Shareeka Epps. I’ve never seen her in anything else, but damn she’s cute and a good actress. I do know that when she won an Independent Spirit Award this year she was introduced as Shakira Epps, and had to correct them when she got on stage. Why are people so stupid? Wait, topic for another discussion. Anyway, the dynamic between these two in the movie is dynamite. I mean, their combined cuteness is powerful enough to kill a man, so I’m sure that helps. But something about their interactions, be it good dialogue, be it sad eyes, be it well-timed soundtrack cues, left me feeling touched and sad and happy all at once. They have a way of conveying that, “I just get you” feeling to each other with only a glance.

Speaking of the sound track, it was all done by Broken Social Scene, another plus for the movie. When I think of a band doing a sound track for a movie, I think of them actually creating new pieces for that particular purpose. This wasn’t so much that, as the movie just using a bunch of old Broken Social Scene songs, and only Broken Social Scene songs, which I already have a personal emotional reaction to. So throw that into the mix and this thing is really ripping my heart out of my chest.

My only question, and please correct me if I’m being a total maroon here, is why Half Nelson? I just can’t quite figure out the meaning of the title. Is it a metaphor for wrastlin’ moves, saying that drugs will put your ass in a half nelson sleeper hold kind of deal? And if so, why not go for the full nelson? I mean, I don’t think drugs really hold back their full force of ruining your life because they don’t want to strain your delts. If you know what I mean, and clearly you don’t. Err, or I’m retarded. If I can’t get what the title means, then perhaps I’m in no position to be discussing the movie in the first place. But it’s a little late for that now isn’t it? It’s snowing and cold and disgusting out so I guess I’ll curl up this weekend with a stack of buddy movies and practice my sad eyes in the mirror. This weekend is going to rule.

Originally published at Shamblesville.net and shamelessly duplicated here without permission in the spirit of spite and unabashed plagarism as retribution for the glorification of sad eyes.

This entry was posted by Er on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 pm and is filed under american, movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.