Nickel Boys is haunting. At times it plays like a ghost story, about the people that we cross paths with for just a short time in our lives, yet they stay with us forever. It’s a tragedy of unbelievable depths. There are moments of joy that bring momentary relief while also emphasizing the despair the characters are mired in. It’s beautiful. It’s lyrical. It’s staggering.
Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel The Nickel Boys, the film largely takes place in the Jim Crow south of the 1960s and follows the story of Elwood (Ethan Herisse), a teenage boy who is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to reform school Nickel Academy. Elwood is a bright student with dreams of being part of the Civil Rights movement. Nickel is where he meets Turner (Brandon Wilson), and the two become close as they navigate their time at the academy.
The aspect of the film that makes it unique, and may prove to be divisive with viewers, is the way it’s shot. Director RaMell Ross and cinematographer Jomo Fray go for a first person POV that makes the camera feel like another actor. They successfully blend the imagery with the performances, putting the audience right alongside Elwood. It’s a choice that would prove ostentatious were it not executed so well. It compliments the performances in a way that feels revelatory. It’s one thing to watch actors playing off each other, but another to look those actors in the face and have it feel like they’re playing off you.
Just when you think you’ve settled into the film’s rhythms, Ross throws in a curveball that heightens the POV gambit. As Nickel Boys moves along, the perspective shifts between Elwood and Turner. The narrative also starts to jump in time to the adult version of Elwood (Daveed Diggs). These moves widen the film’s scope, bringing the story’s larger ambitions to the fore. There is a balance between the personal journeys of Elwood and Turner and the societal and institutional racism and injustice that allowed for places like Nickel (based on the Dozier School in Florida) to destroy lives for generations.
What Ross and his co-writer Joslyn Barnes have done in adapting Colson’s novel is deeply impressive. They’ve taken an acclaimed work and found a way to put their own imprint on it while staying true to its spirit and themes. The result is a film that feels like a living, breathing work. Nickel Boys is a singular film, something that feels increasingly rare. In my estimation, it’s the best film of 2024.
Nickel Boys is currently in limited release and expands in January 2025
