Nickel Boys
Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse, TV's 'When They See Us') is a bright young man in the Jim Crow South being raised by his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, "King Richard," "Origin") and encouraged by his teacher Mr. Hill (Jimmie Fails, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco") to apply for a college scholarship, which he receives. But while he walks towards that school, another young black man offers him a ride and the naive Elwood doesn't recognize the meaning of the round hole in the car's dashboard. Pulled over by the cops, the innocent Elwood is found guilty of accessory to car theft and sent to a notorious Florida reform school where he becomes fast friends with the more jaded Jack Turner (Brandon Wilson, "The Way Back"), the two a pair of "Nickel Boys."
Laura's Review: B
Cowriter (with his "Hale County This Morning, This Evening" producer Joslyn Barnes)/director RaMell Ross exhibited a different way of looking at things with his documentary about the every day lives of two black men in an Alabama county. The former high school photography teacher and his cinematographer Jomo Fray, whose impressionistic imagery told the story of the 2023 film "All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt," relate Colson Whitehead's tragic tale almost entirely from POV shots, a device most famously used in Robert Montgomery's 1946 noir "Lady in the Lake." That film used mirrors to reveal its antagonist, but here we do not get a glimpse of Elwood until about 15 minutes in, when he and his girlfriend (Gabrielle Simone Johnson) view the strip ejected from their photo booth session. It's a daring move and, combined with Ross's nonlinear storytelling, may prove challenging to many viewers while others will embrace its immersive quality. The cinematography is most enchanting in early goings, as we experience nature through a young Elwood's eyes as he lies in the grass, his grandmother's voice vaguely entering his conscience calling him for supper, but it can also be distancing, especially relating the more extreme horrors of Nickel Academy.
Like this year's documentary "Sugarcane, Whitehead's story, based on a true case in Florida's Panhandle, deals with racially motivated abuse at a school, in "Sugarcane," Catholic academies for native American Indians, here black youth in a state run reformatory. Even as he's driven in, Elwood passes a relatively nice looking building with white boys playing sports outside to a more bunker-like shed in the back, reserved for blacks and the one Mexican American who confuses authorities and gets shunted back and forth between the two. At first, a black Housemaster, Blakely (Gralen Bryant Banks, "Hit Man"), seems non-threatening and Superintendent Maynard Spencer (Hamish Linklater, TV's 'The New Adventures of Old Christine') outlines the levels they must achieve to be released, reassuring the boys that as long as they follow the rules, they'll be fine, but Elwood will learn there is nothing resembling justice at Nickel Academy. His naivete, his rarified upbringing having embedded a belief in the law and civil rights, will be contrasted against Jack's cynicism, the latter having experienced racism all his life.
Even among the boys themselves there are bullies. Elwood is targeted by Griff (Luke Tennie, TV's 'Shrinking'), the Academy's boxing hope who will become one of its most tragic tales. Jack, who's gotten himself into the good graces of Harper (Fred Hechinger, "Thelma," "Gladiator II"), who leads the Academy's community service crew, is convinced to take on Elwood and the two manage to get outside the grounds, tasked with such jobs as painting Director Hardee's porch while his wife serves them lemonade. But when a state inspector arrives and Elwood is observed slipping him his notebook outlining their status as slave labor, he's dragged out in the middle of the night, brought to the infamous white house to literally be tortured.
Back to that cinematography, which in addition to its distancing effect is also inconsistent, leaving character POV to cut to excerpts of "The Defiant Ones," Stanley Kramer's 1958 drama about black and white prison escapees having to learn to cooperate because they are chained together, and jumping at one point from Elwood's eyes to Jack's, who will be the only one to see Elwood's grandmother when she travels all the way from Georgia to visit, denied access to her grandson. And while we see as if from the boys' eyes at Nickel Academy, when Ross jumps to the older Elwood (Daveed Diggs), suddenly the camera is behind him and we watch him research news of graves uncovered at Nickel from behind his head. It's gratifying to see Elwood's come out relatively OK, the owner of a moving business, but he's been emotionally scarred, returning to his beloved Hattie now in the throes of dementia, unable to maintain a relationship with his girlfriend. Much of his history is suggested in a montage of cutaways to such things as his grandmother's obituary and a series of driver's licenses. We'll revisit his escape, too, a lasting wound.
Ross elicits fine performances from his ensemble, his two young leads distinguishing their differences and fast friendship, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor particularly moving as Elwood's grandmother. Alex Somers and Scott Alario's music complements the film's unconventional camerawork, a mood soundscape more than a traditional score.
Amazon/MGM opened "Nickel Boys" in NY theaters on 12/13/24, expanding in subsequent weeks.
