It a world of oversaturated corporate cinema where everything looks the same, movie goers and cinephiles are left wanting. A desire for something new, something wholly unique burns like a flame as we yearn for something that moves us, something that challenges and changes us. “Nickel Boys” is by far and away the answer to that call, an audacious, bold new vision from RaMell Ross that quite literally reshapes the way we experience cinema in real time. There is simply nothing like it, not before or after even if some of its imagery carries some influence. “Nickel Boys” stands alone as an incomparable cinematic event, forging a path of visual storytelling that is certain to enter the lexicon of generational firsts. It is as moving as it is challenging, unforgettable as it is disorienting, beautiful as it is devastating.
Based on the Colton Whitehead novel of the same name, “Nickel Boys” is written and directed by RaMell Ross and co-written by Joslyn Barnes. Though a work of fiction, it is also inspired by actual events that occurred at the Dozier School for Boys in Florida. The film follows two African American boys Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) in the Jim Crow south who meet at Nickel Academy, a reform school for boys that seems upstanding on the surface but is horrifically abusive to all of the African American boys at the school. Elwood is an idealist and believes that exposing the abuses will bring justice and free them. Turner is much more realistic, and embraces the fact that no one is coming to save them and no one actually cares about what is happening to them inside the Nickel walls. Together, the try to survive and see each other through, and hope to one day escape. The film also stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger and Jimmie Fails.
“Nickel Boys” is told almost entirely in first person point of view, shifting between Elwood and Turner’s perspective almost exclusively as the story unfolds. Cinematographer Jomo Fray brings Ross’ experimental visual style to life with vibrancy and intimacy, again pushing the limits of what it means to capture moving images. “Nickel Boys” isn’t just unique for its perspective but more in how both Ross and Fray choose to create the imagery. It’s limiting view as we enter the eyes of each protagonist changes everything about how we experience the story, and “Nickel Boys” removes the barrier of voyeurism that audiences often find solace in and demands that they need to experience the events, not just watch them unfold. It allows the film to deal with horrible subject matter without ever falling into the trappings of black trauma porn we see all too often in Hollywood.
Ross and Fray’s bold stye allows “Nickel Boys” to feel balanced and earnest, as well as urgent and unflinching. There is no watering down the searing indictment of a dark chapter in American history that Whitehead’s novel very much contains, and through the film’s entrancing visual motion it is able to both hold nothing back without ever showing its implied atrocities. “Nickel Boys” unfolds more as a collection of fractured memories, with both Elwood and Turner reimagining events with each shift in perspective. It is inescapable immersion, the kind that requires a true confidence and intelligence to make work, both of which Ross has in executing such a transformative endeavor. Fray and his camerawork become a character themselves, transforming his cinematography into a living, breathing entity. “Nickel Boys” requires conversation beyond its harrowing narrative, asking a lot of its viewers but rewarding that patience with something to talk about visually, too.
Admittedly, “Nickel Boys” does require a lot of patience and an open mind. You have to be willing to accept the invitation of immersion that the film asks of you, and it is not a film that holds your hand. The first 30-40 minutes are disorienting, and it takes time to adjust to the perspective and dream like sequences comprised of haunted memories from protagonists we are just meeting for the first time. Even more, we aren’t given much of Herisse and Wilson on screen because we are experiencing the film through their eyes most of the time, and that too takes some adjusting. “Nickel Boys” does settle in though, and once the initial shock of what you are seeing wears off, the film begins to take hold emotionally and pronounces its messaging with resonance and unyielding empathy and impact. The film is challenging, and I can understand how some can walk away from it unable to connect or get past its experimental visual style.
If you can tap into what Ross is trying create, “Nickel Boys” is the unique cinematic experience you’ve been waiting for. There is nothing like it, and it will stand the test of time as a statement of transformative storytelling and a genuine moment in time in film history. It very well may be a masterpiece, if for nothing else it stands alone as a piece of work that no matter how you come away from it will always be remembered. “Nickel Boys” is one of the best films of the year, a truly special film that will live on forever in my mind as a once in lifetime experience seeing it for the first time. I am forever changed by it, and its devastating story paired with its upending visuals has left a profound impact on me. “I remember ghosts” is line I will never forget, just a small piece of “Nickel Boys” living rent free in my soul forever.
“Nickel Boys” is unlike anything you have ever seen and likely won’t see again for a very long time. It is films like this that reminds me why I love movies and why I have dedicated my life to cinema. I genuinely don’t know the next time a film will ever make me feel like that again.
“Nickel Boys” is a masterpiece unmatched and moving in ways that stir the soul, rips you apart and rather than put you back together again, leaves you with yourself to decide what you’re going to do next. It doesn’t get better than this, folks.
Please don’t watch “Nickel Boys” at home. It deserves the theater and would be a disservice otherwise.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
“Nickel Boys” is in select theaters December 20th. You can watch the trailer below.
