The Nickel Boys is based on the book of the same name by Colson Whitehead. It’s a period piece set in the 1960s. RaMell Ross doesn’t film it in the usual style most directors would, though. He uses a first-person point of view similar to a video game and a 4/3 aspect ratio. These filmmaking styles will definitely make this movie more difficult for non-film fans to watch, but if they do give it a chance, they will find it rewarding. I sure did.

Elwood (Ethan  Herisse) is a young Black teen who lives with his mother, Hattie (Anjanue Ellis-Taylor), in Tallahassee, Florida.  The French section of town. He’s a good student in school, and he’s planning on going to a technical college. While walking on the way, he gets a ride from a man in a teal blue  Cadillac.  Unfortunately for him, the man stole the car. This gets him in trouble as an associate of grand theft. His mom gets him a lawyer, but it doesn’t help because he’s sent to a reformatory for troubled youths. There, he meets another young man, Turner (Brandon Wilson), who becomes his best friend in a bad situation. 

Besides the first-person point of view and the 4/3 aspect ratio, the director uses other methods to help tell this story. Flashforwards, in time, help viewers determine what may have happened in the past. A train ride that moves very fast is a clue to what truly happened to these boys while they were at this reform school. Various montages of random shots of people and things that were at the Nickel Academy were shown quite often.  These break up the monotony of the POV. This is definitely an unorthodox way of telling a story. 

The cast of this film is excellent. The two actors who portray the two main boys in the story are both fantastic. They bring a youthful exuberance to these roles that would normally seem to be pretty depressing roles. There are some down moments for sure, but the thought that they could potentially get out of this school is always on their mind. Four rules they need to follow along with to help them give them encouragement moving forward in the film. Both actors bring a lot of emotion to the roles. It’s not easy being sent away for something you didn’t do. Being upbeat in this circumstance isn’t very easy to do for anybody, let alone a teenager.

The supporting cast, including Hamish Linklater,  Fred Hechinger, and others, are all very good in this movie, but Aunjanue Ellis-Ross is on another level as the mother of the main boy in the story. She brings a sense of realism to her role. She has been great ever since I saw her in King Richard a few years ago. A role she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for. She gives just as good of a performance in this movie as she did in that one. She’s having a pretty big year this year with all the roles she’s had.  One scene near the end of the film stood out specifically as her Oscar clip moment this year if she indeed gets another nomination for this very good performance. 

Films about people who are imprisoned wrongly can be quite emotional. The fact that this one is based on a true story makes it pack even that much more of a punch. I can’t say anything like this has ever happened to me, but it’s not like it doesn’t matter because it does. There was a line in the film that said there are camps like this all over the country made this even more of a dire circumstance.  The authorities at this time didn’t care who they locked up. They just kept sending boys to this academy, and many like it. As a possible workforce or enslavement.  Even though there was a white section, it was clear the Black youths were treated much worse off than the white kids were. Whites were given authority positions where Blacks weren’t.  That’s a clear indication of classes coming into effect. These boys were in deep trouble. 

The Nickel Boys is filmed in an unorthodox style. The POV, 4/3 aspect ratio, various montages, and flash-forwards made it difficult to follow along with at times. Once I settled into the filmmaking style, I was fine. I got used to all the camera tricks and so forth after a little while. The supporting cast was all very good, with Ellis-Ross being clearly the standout. The two main actors did a good job playing these roles. They are newer actors and held their own amongst some seasoned veterans of the trade. RaMell Ross took what otherwise would be a pretty basic story and infused it with a lot of flair and put his own style on it. It’s definitely visionary, to say the least. It won’t be for everybody, but I dug it. 

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen