By Marc S. Sanders
Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Nickel Boys, is now an Oscar nominated film for Best Picture and Best Screenplay. It is based on a true story that needed the exposure of a film. However, a better adaptation than what director RaMell Moss did with it should have been completed.
The Nickel School of Southern Georgia is the setting for a boys school where various forms of abuse took place during the civil rights era. Apollo 8 was making new discoveries in space, but racial prejudice and crimes of adolescent abuse were not being revealed to a greater public.
Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is a bright student who has been accepted to a prestigious school for gifted learning. Upon walking to his destination, on the outskirts of Atlanta, Elwood inadvertently gets blamed for a crime he did not commit and is sent to the Nickel Reform School. The black students are relegated “to the other side of the nickel” in less favorable quarters than the white students.
At the school, Elwood develops a friendship with Turner (Brandon Wilson) and together they do their best to survive the harsh challenges that go with living at Nickel. Elwood remains positive that he will be able to leave the school one day and return to his loving grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). Turner knows differently. These boys are never leaving, and they will be compelled to obey the harsh tyranny of living at the school.
What helped me get through the near two and a half hour running time is that sadly this is an all too familiar story, especially for black youth. The challenge though is the construction of the film. RaMell Moss takes an unconventional approach where the viewer is the point of view of the two boys. For about the first third of the picture, we are seeing what Elwood sees. When he nods his head to the floor, the viewer sees the floor. When he looks up to the sky, we look to the sky above him. When he is listening or speaking to another person, like Turner or Hattie for example, that’s who we see. The viewer is restricted to a forced tunnel vision of only what Elwood’s eyes focus on. Frankly, as soon as the film began, I said to myself, “Oy. Two and a half hours of this!”
Shortly after Elwood arrives at Nickel and sits down for breakfast, the perspective finally changes to Turner when the boys meet for the first time. Now we get to see what Elwood looks like because we are looking through the eyes of Turner. At this point, I told myself to either fall asleep, walk out or get accustomed to this different way of watching a movie. I selected option number three and I’m glad I did because I started to become engrossed in the picture. It’s compelling and absorbing. Granted I was still unsure of what this story was about as the film keeps the viewer very limited as to what is seen and told. Arbitrary moments are shown through the eyes of the boys that do not necessarily progress the story. These adolescent boys are not directly tormented as much as they are simply living in a captivity they do not fully understand.
A third person perspective is eventually put upon us. We are watching the film at a different time, during an internet age, as we see a black man with dreadlock hair surfing the internet and pulling up articles about the Nickel Boys School that once existed. I had an idea of who I was standing behind as he spoke with his girlfriend, but still I was not entirely sure, and other than an attempt at inventiveness, it puzzled me why the film veers occasionally into this direction.
Nickel Boys has an eye-opening story to tell but the experimental narrative of this picture does not entirely work. It’s more frustrating than admirable. RaMell Moss works with a very good cast of young actors who are focused on upholding the first-person perspective. They are speaking the language of his camera. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean as a viewer that I like it. These young actors deserve a more conventional means of telling this story. I am confident they can handle that kind of direction just as well.
Nickel Boys ends with a mild twist. While it might not have seemed necessary, and with Moss’ unusual approach I was not even sure what happened, it’s interesting for at least a beat. However, to be sure I understood what occurred I turned to my resident Cinemaniac, Thomas Pahl, for assurance that I was accurate in what I think happened.
I also took issue with RaMell Moss breaking his own rule of filmmaking. The film limits itself to three different kinds of perspectives: a first-person view from either Elwood or Turner, and a third person sight from a character we meet in a more modern time. Yet, for one concluding and significant moment that occurs near the end of this story, Moss changes his camera angle for a standard conventional approach. Why do this? Was Moss finally at the end of his rope and could not fathom how to demonstrate the story’s end unless he broke away from his own unique approach? For me this shows the filmmaker could not stay consistent all the way through with the final cut of his picture.
Forgive the presumption, but I recall the Academy considering nominating films only if there is a minority representation contained somewhere within the finished edit. I’m uncertain if that remains an unspoken rule or if it is set in stone. Honestly, I think it’s simply considered with a lack of justified merit.
I do not find Nickel Boys to be worthy of the best of 2024. A handful of films that were not as recognized did not get the accolades this film received. Is the picture being honored because it depicted a black experience? I cannot help but wonder. It is not a terrible film because there are parallel ideas happening alongside the main storyline and the cast is especially good. Real life tragic stories are especially appealing to The Academy. The direction of the piece takes away from much of the benefits of the film though.
Garner up your patience with the limited view you will have watching Nickel Boys. I also say this without sarcasm, maybe take a Dramamine. When watching a production in a first-person narrative, often people are prone to motion sickness. Surprisingly, it did not happen for me this time. It should have because I cannot play updated video games that rely on this angle. Yet, a friend had a different experience with Nickel Boys, and he said it took all his strength not to get up and exit the film.
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 