Half Nelson (2006 Ryan Fleck)

Written by Fleck with Anna Boden, film tells of unlikely relationship developing between strung out teacher and inner city kid, both played beautifully by Ryan Gosling (who was Oscar nominated) and Shareeka Epps, actually 17 at the time, and often looking much, much older.

Ryan with very stupid plaster. Who plasters a lip anyway?

Anthony Mackie is the dealer, and sympathetic teacher Denis O'Hare perhaps looks familiar as he's a recurrent judge in The Good Wife.

It suffers from a choppy, documentary hand held look which doesn't always suit the material, and there's clearly a lot of improvised acting from non-professionals. But it doesn't fold itself into a neat box, and overall is quite tangy.