Come on, Teach, school me

But there is another piece of acting just as good from Shareeka Epps in her feature debut and, at the time of filming, still attending high school in New York.

Playing the pupil who finds her teacher drugged up in the empty changing rooms, she realises he is in trouble, and knows her own life is on the brink of imploding, too, because of an association with a known dealer (Anthony Mackie).

The dealer maps out a path for the girl as a prosperous drug-runner but her teacher, despite his dependence, offers her a better way, at least in schooltime. Out of hours, he tries to get rid of her without success.

If Gosling paints the teacher in very human terms, without stinting on the perils of drugtaking and the personality changes it affects, the small, solemn, round-faced Epps gives her part a similar authenticity, never playing for sympathy or sentiment.

The film's polemic is its weakest feature. Director Ryan Fleck's insertion into the drama of documentary scenes from the Civil Rights struggle is a little self-conscious and it isn't always certain what he is trying to say.

But the performances make it, and that is as much down to the director as to the cast themselves. Half Nelson is a slice of American life that consistently rings true. It is much better than your average Hollywood message movie on the subject of deprived schoolchildren which has big stars grandstanding as inspired teachers in the lead.

Gosling, whose talents can also be seen in Fracture, out this week, may well become a big star. But there's no grandstanding here at all.

Half Nelson
Cert: 15