Sundace Part the 6th (finally)

More than a month after Sundance and I’m back.
On Thursday I saw two movies which were not in my original plan, and which made me very happy.
The first, “Half Nelson,” is the story of a junky middle school history teacher and girls’ basketball coach and a student he befriends.
Drey is a 13-year-old going on thirty whose mother works odd shifts as a paramedic and whose brother is in prison. Outside of school, the only caring male influence she has is her brother’s drug dealing friend. She’s a bright student and a good basketball player, both of which mean her teacher, Dan, is the more positive male influence in her life.
This could have been a nice teacher nurturing student story, but their relationship crosses a line when Drey finds Dan collapsed in the girls’ locker room after a game. He has a crack vial in his hand.
Dan is the good teacher who hauls his hangover out of bed and into the classroom every morning. His apartment is probably worse than the homes of most of his inner-Brooklyn students. He defies the curriculum and makes his students enjoy both learning and thinking. If only there were more teachers like that, but I digress. Even Dan’s drug dealer calls him “Teach.” Drey calls him “Coach.” He has a history of failed relationships with adult women, including a halfhearted affair with a fellow teacher
Dan starts giving Drey rides home, even when all he wants is cocaine and to be left alone. She borrows books and he stands up to the drug dealer. They develop a friendship which defies their differences in age (15 or 20 years) and the student - teacher relationship.
Shareeka Epps, as Drey, is stunning. She comes across as smart, tough and funny as any young woman destined to get off the streets. Drey comes across as the innocent who knows too much and whom you would like to save from that knowledge.

My locals quick pass holder buddies convinced me to give into entropy and stay at Rose Wagner for my second film.
I am not a Neil Young fan. In the way that I know all of Johnny Cash’s lyrics, I know Young’s lyrics and there are some songs I like, but I’m not a fan and I’ve never bought an album. I just might buy the “Prairie Wind” album which is essentially the soundtrack of “Neil Young: Heart of Gold.” (Though the title makes me think of the Kink’s song “She’s got a heart of gold.”)
This documentary was made just before Young was treated for a brain aneurysm, when he had his two day “Prairie Wind” concerts. To quote a completely different era of the Kinks (sorry) “all of his friends were there.” Emmylou Harris is one of his star cast of back up musicians, as are several former members of his bands, a college gospel choir and a brass jazz band.
The interviews with Young and his fellow musicians aren’t great, though some of them are interesting and funny. It’s really all about the music, and beautiful music it is.
There are so few concert movies that make you want to stand up and cheer after each song...“Stop Making Sense” is the other one for me.

The top four remain “Eve and the Fires Horses”, “No. 2,” “Off the Black” and “The Illusionist,” though both of this day’s are in the running for number 5.