NICKEL BOYS (2024)
Directed by RaMell Ross
aunjanue-ellis-taylor, brandon-wilson, colson-whitehead, daveed-diggs, Drama, ethan-herisse, hamish-linklater, Historical, Nominated for Best Picture, ramell-ross
Nickel Boys is undeniable. Perhaps the "MOST GOOD" film of 2024. Many directors have tried and failed to successfully emote through a POV shooting style; RaMell Ross has succeeded. This director's dialogue is worth a watch if you want more.
We're introduced to the story through the eyes of Elwood (first Ethan Cole Sharp, then, primarily, Ethan Herisse) in the early 1960s. Fragments of footage are beautifully sewn together to paint the picture of his reality — his grandmother ironing, an orange ready to be picked, streets rolling by a bus window, his teacher handing him a pamphlet for a local school that offers free classes. He decides to enroll. On what should be his first day, he hitchhikes in what turns out to be a stolen vehicle with the thief. He is arrested and sent to a reform school called Nickel Academy, harrowingly based on Florida's Dozier School for Boys, a real establishment in operation from 1900 to 2011. Yes, those dates are correct.
At Nickel, we're presented with a series of rigid rules from Superintendent Spencer (Hamish Linklater) and given a bunk with the other "students" (read: prisoners). While the white students play football and take real classes, the Black students work through the day, sleep like sardines in a can, and sit through uninspired lessons from teachers who visibly do not care about their academic success. Many are hired out for labor in the neighboring town (painting fences, delivering food, etc.). Worst of all, perceived wrong-doings are punished with beatings, whippings, and (implied, though never shown) sexual assault.
Elwood forms a bond with Turner (Brandon Wilson), a student on his second stint at Nickel with no family in the outside world. Rightfully angry about his treatment, Elwood begins tracking examples of Nickel's abuses in his notebook. When Spencer and the other school leaders find out, they are furious and punish Elwood by locking him in a sweatbox for hours.
Turner helps him escape and they frantically design a plan to break free.
The film shows a decades-long arc, with flash-forward scenes to the late 1980s where we watch the back of Elwood's head as he moves through his new life; running a moving company, reconnecting with an old Nickel Academy peer, and researching recent claims of abuse against students bubbling up about his old school.
Throughout the movie, we see clips of happenings across the U.S. and the world — most prominently the space race — carefully crafting an emotional story of the sharp juxtaposition between humanity's scientific advancements and it's crushing failure as a society rooted in racism.
MAJOR SPOILERS
During the escape attempt, Elwood is shot and killed. Turner manages to escape.
He travels by boxcar, eventually finding his way to Elwood's grandmother's house. We realize the conversation we've been witnessing between the 1960s and the 1980s hasn't been what we thought it was. Through a series of flashing stills, we learn that Turner has adopted Elwood's name and worked to build a better life adhering to Elwood's stark and honest moral values.
He finds freedom and becomes a better man than he otherwise would have been through Elwood's involuntary sacrifice.
FINAL THOUGHTS
At the time of this writing, it's been a few weeks since the 97th Academy Awards, and I'm only just starting to recover from my anger and irritation that Nickel Boys won nothing (nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay). "Oscar snub" doesn't begin to describe the betrayal of the lack of nominations for RaMell as director, the film for Best Cinematography, and anyone for any acting awards. Boo! It deserved all of this.
I'll be returning to this one. As Barry Jenkins stated: "In a time where there are more ways to make a film than ever, RaMell has given us a new way of seeing."
this movie is good.
My rating: 5/5