A One Mann’s Movies review of “Nickel Boys” (2024) (From the 2024 London Film Festival).
Wow… just Wow. If I hear the words “And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to…. Nickel Boys” I would be surprised… (I doubt it will get the marketing required)… but I would also be delighted.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Nickel Boys” Plot Summary:
It’s Tallahassee in the ’60s. Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is a bright black teen being brought up well by his Nana Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). After his teacher secures him a scholarship in the Melvin Griggs Technical School, his future looks bright. But fate is about to deal him a kick in the teeth.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Abusive behaviour, racism, moderate violence, threat, strong language”)
Talent:
Starring: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jimmie Fails, Bryant Tardy, Hamish Linklater, Gralen Bryant Banks, Luke Tennie, Daveed Diggs.
Directed by: RaMell Ross.
Written by: RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes. (Based on the book by Colson Whitehead.)
Running Time: 2h 20m.
“Nickel Boys” Summary:
Positives:
- Astonishing first-person photography makes for a huge impact.
- In general, the cinematography is vivid and brilliant.
- Superb performances from Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
- A devastating finale.
Negatives:
- Nothing. This is a near perfect movie.
Review of “Nickel Boys”:
A Stunning opening.
Like a lot of things in life, first impressions are all important and this film really delivers. We start with a dreamy shot of a ripe orange hanging on a tree against a clear blue Florida sky,. The camera then swivels 90 degrees to show young Elwood playing with leaves on the floor. There is then a dizzyingly close-up set of images – the cinematography of Jomo Fray fully deserves an Oscar nomination – as we work our way into Elwood’s home life with his ‘Nana’ Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). It properly sets your expectation for what is to follow, with not just fine acting and a gripping story but also on every level on the technical categories of editing, production design, costume, hair and makeup and particularly cinematography. The framing of every shot feels like it has been planned like a military campaign.
RaMell Ross also delivers some memorably random moments that stick in the mind: alligators, one in the street and one in the Nickel classroom; a pony randomly standing in a Nickel corridor and, most memorably of all, a truck lugging a huge cross down a country road, the foot of the cross sparking off the asphalt surface.
The film is shot in a square format. That sort of gimick often annoys me but here, with the 60’s setting, it seemed to work well.
Through the eyes of the players.
Director RaMell Ross makes a bold choice: to show the whole first part of the film through the eyes of our unlucky hero Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp and then Ethan Herisse). We see his ‘crime’ (which makes your blood boil) and the start of his punishment at the Nickel Academy. Nickel is based on the abomination that was the real-life Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Florida. The director keeps Elwood anonymous for a good portion of the film: we see a brief glimpse of his face in the reflection of a steam iron; then (cheating a bit!) we see his photobooth photos with his girlfriend.
At a later point in the film, Elwood meets fellow Nickel inmate Turner (Brandon Wilson) who becomes his ‘friend’ (although occasionally that feels a loose description). At this point, in a memorable movie moment, we flash forwards in Elwood’s memory (a stunning freight-train sequence) but then back into Turner’s eyes and relive the same scene over again. We are now locked into dual first-party views alternating between Elwood and Turner’s eyes. It’s a brilliant device that really grounds you to the feelings and suffering of the duo.
Periodically, we flash-forward to Elwood in later life – first to 1976 and then to 1988. By this, you know that, unlike many others, Elwood didn’t die in Nickel and of the many ‘exit options’ discussed, he has managed to find one. For these scenes, Elwood is played by Daveed Diggs and the camera position is no longer in his eyes but hovering behind his head (like one of the options in a video rally game). (In fact, I noticed as soon as Elwood leaves the grounds of Nickel Academy, and freedom beckons, that is where the camera settles.)
A time of momentous historical events in America.
The history of the 60’s keeps surfacing during the film. It is a time of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King delivering speeches on the TV news; it is the time of Selma; NASA are starting their Apollo missions. It’s also the Vietnam war and in one memorable encounter a young white kid says to Elwood “You’re lucky to be in Nickel”…. since he will escape the draft.
In addition, there’s a whole lot of regular life is going on in the black community. As if to emphasise what Elwood is missing while incarcerated, the film cuts-in dozens of snippets of home movies, some of them quite random, to illustrate that.
The political backdrop shown in the early part of the film serves to ramp up your tension as to what is about to happen. As Elwood gets more and more involved in the civil rights events, I got more and more nervous and, symbolically and brilliantly, the brochure for the Melvin Griggs Technical School, his gateway to a better life, slips slowly down the wall.
Nickel is evil painted as normality.
I had a view as to what Nickel might look like before we got to the gates. Grim, institutional, bleak. But actually, the main building is a gorgeous looking mansion as might befit a Southern gentlemen, set in lush grounds. Of course, it is the white ‘students’ who get off that stop. It is them that get to play football in the lush grounds. Segregation obviously exists here too and Elwood is dropped off at the black quarters in a less salubrious part of the grounds. There is a moment of comedy where a Mexican kid is referenced: “they don’t know which side of Nickel to put him in”. (Notably, he starts off in the white side but ends up in the black.)
Even in the black quarters, although the conditions are basic, they don’t seem overly harsh. The cruelty comes behind the scenes with the control of the evil and corrupt Mr Spencer (Hamish Linklater). He outlines how the students will, or will not, progress through the grades of Grub, Explorer, Pioneer and Ace. Only Ace students will be considered for release. Punishments are meted out brutally: scenes with Elwood that are hard to watch.
The Defiant One.
Even in this environment, Elwood remains defiant encouraged by his earlier involvement in the civil rights movement and one of his cinema heroes – Sidney Poitier in Stanley Kramer’s 1959 classic “The Defiant Ones”. He believes that if the message can be got out then he can actually change the system. Turner mocks him, thinking he is mad and dangerous: “That shit barely works out there” he says. “How’s it going to stand up in here?”
Brilliant performances.
Anchoring the drama are brilliant performances from Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson as Elwood and Turner. But even better is Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor playing Nana Hattie. It’s a performance of enormous warmth and charisma. “They want you to have your portion of pain. Well, not my Elwood!” It is surely deserving of a Best Supporting Actress nomination come awards season.
Music
A final nod to the music by Scott Alario and Alex Somers which is generally weird, atonal and totally fitting for the film.
Summary Thoughts on “Nickel Boys”
In my view, this is a stone cold classic that I would LOVE to see do well in awards season. We will see.
We don’t have long to wait for this one. It opens in the US at the end of this month and will be released by Curzon Films in the UK on November 8th 2024. (A Curzon release often implies a limited release…. that would be a HUGE shame if so, since this is a film that deserves to be in every multiplex in the country.)
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Nickel Boys”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2qZ429rUZw .
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