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Nickel Boys
Nickel Boys is a 2024 American historical drama film based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was directed by RaMell Ross, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes, and stars Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson, alongside Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. The story follows two African American boys, Elwood and Turner, who are sent to an abusive reform school called the Nickel Academy in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the historic reform school in Florida called the Dozier School for Boys, which was notorious for abusive treatment of students. Shot in a first-person point-of-view, filming took place in Louisiana in late 2022. The film premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on December 13, 2024. It received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by the American Film Institute.[5] It received several accolades, including a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, and five nominations at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture. PlotIn 1962 Jim Crow era Tallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis appears destined for great things in the classroom. His black teacher encourages him to think for himself, rejecting Southern textbooks' slanted view of history. Elwood is raised by his doting grandmother, who worries that white society will retaliate against him if he participates in the growing Civil Rights Movement. One day, Elwood is accepted into a tuition-free accelerated study program at an HBCU, but while hitchhiking to campus, he is picked up by a man driving a stolen car. The police catch the man and convict Elwood of being his accomplice. Because Elwood is underage, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school. Nickel is internally segregated; White students enjoy comfortable accommodations and personal attention from staff, while black students are housed in shabby facilities and the school makes little attempt to educate them. Although the black students are told that they can be released for good behavior, in practice they cannot leave until they turn eighteen, as the school makes money hiring them out as convict labor. In addition, it is implied that some students are sexually abused. Elwood bonds with Turner, another quiet student. However, while Elwood is inspired by the non-violent and democratic ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, Turner is cynical, expects only mistreatment from society, and urges Elwood to keep his head down. Elwood is bullied and beaten by another student, but the administrators do not help him: instead, they savagely beat both students. Elwood's grandmother scrimps and saves to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction, but the lawyer runs away with her money, devastating Elwood. A white school administrator who bets on Nickel's annual black-white boxing match quietly executes a black student who either refused or forgot to take a dive. In flashforwards, the adult Elwood lives in New York City, where he runs his own moving business. He does not appear to be in contact with Turner. He is badly shaken after learning that many unmarked graves have been discovered at the old Nickel campus. Forensic evidence reveals that most of the dead students were black. Back in the 1960s, Elwood, fed up with his mistreatment, writes up an expose and convinces a reluctant Turner to deliver it to a government inspector. However, nothing happens, and the administrators retaliate by torturing Elwood in the school sweatbox. Turner learns that the school plans to kill Elwood. To prevent this, Turner and Elwood run away from school together. However, without a car, they are quickly caught. Turner escapes into the woods, but Elwood is still exhausted from his ordeal in the sweatbox and cannot keep up with him. He is shot and killed. A montage shows that Turner safely reached Tallahassee, where he delivered the news of Elwood's death to his grandmother. He then moved North and took on Elwood's name. He marries, builds a stable life, and tries to honor Elwood's legacy by embracing some of his ideals. When the government begins investigating the school, Turner decides to testify about his experiences. Cast
Production The adaptation of Colson Whitehead's 2019 novel, The Nickel Boys, into a feature film was reported in October 2022. RaMell Ross, previously known for his 2018 Academy Award-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, signed on to direct, making it his narrative feature directorial debut.[6] Joslyn Barnes co-wrote and produced and Whitehead served as executive producer. Aunjanue Ellis, Ethan Herisse, Fred Hechinger, Hamish Linklater, and Brandon Wilson were cast in the lead roles.[7] On a production budget of $23.2 million, principal photography took place in Louisiana from October to December 2022.[8][9] Shooting locations were in LaPlace, New Orleans, Hammond and Ponchatoula. The office building of the Lafourche Parish District Attorney was used as a filming location in Thibodaux in early December.[10] In a unique filmmaking approach for viewers to see the plot unfold directly through the eyes of the two protagonists, the film was shot in the perspective of the first-person point-of-view with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio.[11] Ross explained this process in an interview:
ReleaseNickel Boys had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024.[13] It was the opening film at the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on September 27, 2024. The film was originally set to have a limited theatrical release in New York City on October 25, 2024 and Los Angeles on November 1, before streaming on Prime Video on an unspecified date.[14] However, the film's release was pushed further, with the film now premiered in New York City on December 13 and in Los Angeles on December 20; Amazon MGM Studios is additionally preparing prints on 35mm film for the updated release.[15] It is set to be released by Curzon Film in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2025.[16] ReceptionOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 101 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Director RaMell Ross' stylistically radical approach to adapting Colson Whitehead's searing novel will be jarring for some, but Nickel Boys' sense of immersion achieves the jaw-dropping effect of walking in another's shoes."[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 89 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[18] Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film and cast performances. She highlighted the unique visual style, cinematography, and Ross's artistic portrayal of the novel's story.[2] Pete Hammond writing for Deadline Hollywood criticized the "overlong" runtime and Ross's use of first person POV-style shooting of one character talking to another that is not seen on camera and only heard. He wrote, "It is a dangling conversation approach that goes quickly from being intriguing to being annoying, pointing to artifice rather than serving the story", and added, "I hope it doesn't prevent some audiences from getting the larger point that we should be talking about".[19] Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly felt a disconnection with Elwood and Turner by the POV approach, explaining, "Both Wilson and Herisse give subtle, affecting performances but the first-person approach means they are often not on camera. Their performances are largely experiential, which makes it difficult to connect with their work on an emotional level".[20] Carla Renata writing for TheWrap applauded Alex Somers and Scott Alario's music score, casting and performances. She expressed: "This may sound like another Black trauma porn motion picture sanctioned by Hollywood to exploit Black history for financial gain. Thankfully, through the lens of Ross, this narrative doesn't fall into that trap we have seen for decades. Ross [...] brings his unique cinematic sensibility, allowing audiences to experience this type of story from a sensory perspective".[21] IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film an "A" grade, emphasizing the film's visual style and storytelling technique.[11] David Canfield of Vanity Fair wrote the film's "avant-garde approach is cannily balanced by its moral urgency and aesthetic rigor. Like last year's The Zone of Interest, it all but reinvents the language for movies about a particular, dark historical chapter, and seems primed to spark conversations about both its content and its form".[12] Filmmaker Barry Jenkins named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying "This is medium-defining work — aesthetically, spiritually — a rich and overwhelming cinema where the camera is always curious and what it finds is always arresting. In a time where there are more ways to make a film than ever (and yet less variation in the look, the feel, the shape of those films than in any other point in the medium’s history) RaMell has given us a new way of seeing. It is a thing to make one both humbled… and filled with gratitude."[22] Sight & Sound put the film as their seventh pick on their list of the best 50 movies of 2024.[6] Accolades
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