September 27, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by RaMell Ross
Culture Representation: Taking place in Florida and in New York City, from the late 1950s to 2003, the dramatic film “Nickel Boys” (based on the novel “The Nickel Boys”) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people and a few Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Two teenage boys become friends while they live at at a reform school and endure an oppressive, abusive and racist environment.
Culture Audience: “Nickel Boys” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of filmmaker RaMell Ross, the book and which the movie is based, and well-acted movies about how people process childhood trauma.
Artfully made and absorbing to watch, “Nickel Boys” is a risk-taking drama that makes unorthodox choices about memories and perspectives. Inspired by real events about a reform school that abused teenage boys, this movie also has compelling acting. It’s the type of movie that will test the patience of viewers who might be expecting a more traditional narrative structure. But for open-minded movie fans who appreciate bold, artistic moves in cinema, “Nickel Boys” is like watching an unpredictable formation of a mosaic. “Nickel Boys” had its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and later screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival.
Directed by RaMell Ross (who co-wrote the “Nickel Boys” screenplay with Joslyn Barnes), “Nickel Boys” is adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel “The Nickel Boys.” The book is loosely based on the real-life story of the Florida School for Boys, also known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, which was a state-operated reform school in Marianna, Florida, from 1900 to 2011. The school was permanently shut down after numerous lawsuits and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation uncovered decades of torture and other abuse against children who were at the reform school.
“Nickel Boys” (which takes place from the late 1950s to 2003) tells the non-chronological story of Elwood Curtis, whose life changes forever due to an unfortunate series of circumstances. In 1962, Elwood (played by Ethan Herisse) is a bright, empathetic and socially conscious 16-year-old, who will soon turn 17. Elwood’s parents are deceased.
Elwood lives with his widowed grandmother Hattie (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in the racially segregated community of Frenchtown, Florida. Hattie (who works as a hotel maid) and Elwood have hope for and enthusiastic interest in the burgeoning U.S. civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even though Hattie and her co-workers have been ordered not to talk about politics when they’re on the job. Elwood excels in academics and has a promising future.
Elwood has a teacher/mentor named Mr. Hill (played by Jimmie Fails), who recommends Elwood for an advanced-placement academy program called the Melvin Griggs Technical School, which has college-level courses but accepts intellectually gifted high school students for enrollment. Mr. Hill is also involved in the civil rights movement. When a student asks Mr. Hill if he’s a Freedom Rider and how he got a scar on his head, Mr. Hill replies: “Nashville. A white man slugged me with a tire iron.”
One day, Elwood accepts a car ride from a man driving an emerald turquoise Impala. Elwood doesn’t know this man, who appears to be friendly and helpful. Elwood isn’t in the car for very long when the car is pulled over by a racist cop, who pulls the driver by the ear and tells him the car has been reported stolen and “only spooks” steal this type of car. Elwood is in the wrong place at the wrong time, so he is arrested and charged with being a theft accomplice.
“Nickel Boys” doesn’t show Elwood’s courtroom proceedings because the movie makes a point that Elwood was going to be found guilty no matter what, in a system that is racially biased and stacked against people who can’t afford good legal representation. Elwood gets sentenced to Nickel Academy, a reform school for boys. It becomes a terrible experience where he is desperate to escape.
On the surface, Nickel Academy tries to give the impression that this institution truly cares about making these boys into better people. When new enrollees first arrive, they are told about the four levels of existence at Nickel Academy, where reaching the highest level will supposedly get an enrollee released from Nickel Academy. The lowest level is being a Grub, which is the level that all new enrollees are automatically assigned. From there, an enrollee can work his way up to being an Explorer, then a Pioneer, and then the highest level: Ace.
But the reality is that Nickel Academy is an institution that regularly abuses boys who are imprisoned there. In addition to getting vicious beatings and whippings, boys are often locked in solitary confinement in unsanitary conditions and sweltering temperatures. It’s also a racially charged environment because the people on the receiving end of this abuse are mostly black, while the people in authority positions are white. The people in power at this school include a sadistic administrator named Spencer (played by Hamish Linklater) and a bullying school employee in his 20s named Harper (played by Fred Hechinger), who is essentially a henchman who eagerly inflicts abuse and punishment.
Elwood starts off as an introverted loner at Nickel Academy. But he strikes up a tentative acquaintance with Jack Turner (played by Brandon Wilson), who likes to be called by his last name and appears to be more street-smart and tougher that Elwood. As the two teens get to know each other better and become close friends, it becomes apparent to both of them that Elwood has more bravery when it comes to fighting against injustice. Elwood is also the one who is more likely to meticulously plan an escape.
Meanwhile, Elwood’s separation from his protective and worried grandmother Hattie takes a toll on her mental health. There’s a heartbreaking scene where she’s alone at her kitchen and begins talking out loud to herself while cutting slices of frosted cake. Ellis-Taylor isn’t a main character in “Nickel Boys,” but her performance has an indelible impact on the emotional core of the movie.
Because the story of “Nickel Boys” is mainly about the friendship between Elwood and Turner, other enrollees at Nickel Academy don’t get much character depth. Two of the teenage side characters who get some screen time are (1) physically large Griff (played by Luke Tennie), a student boxer who is exploited for money by academy officials and (2) Jaime (played by Bryan Gael Guzman), a friendly and somewhat bashful Latino who is often shunned or excluded by other students because he isn’t black or white.
The movie’s scenes with middle-aged Elwood (played by Daveed Diggs) unfold gradually to reveal what he did with his life after he left Nickel Academy. Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that he moved to New York City not long after his hellish experience at Nickel Academy and has been living in New York City ever since. In the early 2000s, Elwood’s bad memories about Nickel Academy are triggered when he finds out that Nickel Academy has been in the news for horrific discoveries that were made about the academy.
“Nickel Boys” (which has cinematography by Jomo Fray) often has extreme close-ups of people or objects that could be somewhat jarring to viewers who want to see everything in that scene. But these extreme close-ups force viewers to pay more attention to the dialogue rather than get distracted by what’s in the background. The lighting and hues in the movie range from vibrant when Elwood’s life is bursting with optimism to bleak when Elwood’s life reaches depressing low points.
There’s one particular flashback scene early on in the movie that is example of how these extreme close-ups make the movie look more artistic: In a scene taking place in the late 1950s, when Elwood (played by Ethan Cole Sharp) is about 11 or 12 years old. His grandmother Hattie is ironing something, and as her iron slides back and forth, Elwood can be seen reflected in the iron.
The camera’s point of view often switches back and forth from a first-person angle to an observational angle. When the middle-aged Elwood is on screen, his face isn’t fully shown until much later in the movie. “Nickel Boys” also has interludes of real-world archival footage as context and comparison.
Clips from the 1958 dramatic film “The Defiant Ones” (starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis as prison escapees) are shown when Elwood is in a situation where he and someone else are entangled with law enforcement. For example, when Elwood is in the back of a police car with someone, there’s also a similar clip of Poitier and Curtis in the back of a police vehicle. “The Defiant Ones” is an interesting choice because it’s a movie that was controversial in its time because of its observations of race relations and the criminal justice system.
Beyond the unconventional camera angles and somewhat abstract editing, “Nickel Boys” has a very talented principal cast authentically conveying the complex experiences of their characters. Herisse and Wilson are a dynamic duo together and separately in their portrayals of two teens fighting to keep their sanity and dignity when trapped in a cruel institution that wants to do permanent harm to them. Diggs also shines in his role as middle-aged Elwood, who is an example of survivor resilience.
“Nickel Boys” might get some criticism from people who think the world has more than enough movies about racism, child abuse and other struggles experienced by people who are often oppressed and exploited. However, even though “Nickel Boys” is a story that takes place in the past, the movie also serves as a reminder that these injustices are still going on today. And with children in institutions often being the targets of these crimes, “Nickel Boys” is also an urgent wake-up call to hold institutions accountable when they do more harm than good.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures will release “Nickel Boys” in select U.S. cinemas on December 13, 2024.
