Nickel Boys

Based onThe Nickel Boys
by Colson WhiteheadProduced byStarringCinematographyJomo Fray^[1]Edited byNicholas Monsour^[1]Music byDistributed byAmazon MGM Studios140 minutes^[3]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$23.2 million^[4]

Nickel Boys is a 2024 American historical drama film based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was directed by RaMell Ross, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes, and stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. The story follows two African American boys, Elwood and Turner, who are sent to an abusive reform school called the Nickel Academy in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the historic reform school in Florida called the Dozier School for Boys, which was notorious for abusive treatment of students.

Shot in a first-person point-of-view, filming took place in Louisiana in late 2022. It premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and is set to have a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on October 25, 2024.

In 1962 Jim Crow era Tallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis is falsely accused by cops of being an accomplice of stealing a car. He is sent to a segregated reform school called Nickel Academy (a fictionalized version of the Dozier School for Boys). While there, he forms a close friendship with a boy named Turner as they try to survive the abuse by the school and its corrupt administrators.^[5]

• Ethan Herisse as Elwood
  • Ethan Cole Sharp as young Elwood
  • Daveed Diggs as adult Elwood
• Brandon Wilson as Turner, Elwood's friend inside Nickel Academy
• Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Hattie, Elwood's grandmother
• Hamish Linklater as Spencer, the school administrator
• Fred Hechinger as Harper, a school employee
• Jimmie Fails as Mr. Hill, Elwood's encouraging high school teacher

The adaptation of Colson Whitehead's 2019 novel, The Nickel Boys, into a feature film was reported in October 2022. RaMell Ross signed on to direct, making it his narrative feature directorial debut. Joslyn Barnes co-wrote and produced and Whitehead served as executive producer. Aunjanue Ellis, Ethan Herisse, Fred Hechinger, Hamish Linklater, and Brandon Wilson were cast in the lead roles.^[6]

On an estimated production budget (before tax incentives) of $23.2 million, principal photography took place in Louisiana from October to December 2022.^[4][7] Shooting locations were in LaPlace, New Orleans, Hammond and Ponchatoula. The office building of the Lafourche Parish District Attorney was used as a filming location in Thibodaux in early December.^[8]

In a unique filmmaking approach for viewers to see the plot unfold directly through the eyes of the two protagonists, the film was shot in the perspective of the first-person point-of-view with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio.^[5] Ross explained this process in an interview:

"The film is conceived as all one-ers. In one scene, we shot everything from Elwood's perspective, and then everything from Turner's—one from the first hour, and then the other for the second. Very rarely did we shoot both perspectives on a scene, though, because of the way it was written and scripted. We don’t always go back and forth. So it's shot like a traditional film, except the other character is not there. They're just asked to look at a specific point in the camera. Typically, the other actor is behind the camera, reading the lines and being the support to make the other person feel like they're actually engaged with something relatively real. Because they're all one-ers, though, the choreography is quite difficult".^[9]

Nickel Boys had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024.^[10] It is scheduled to be the opening film at the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on September 27, 2024. It is set to have a limited theatrical release in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on October 25, before streaming on Prime Video.^[11] It is set to be released by Curzon Film in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2024.^[12]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.7/10.^[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[14]

Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film and cast performances. She highlighted the unique visual style, cinematography, and Ross's artistic portrayal of the novel's story.^[2] Pete Hammond writing for Deadline Hollywood criticized the "overlong" runtime and Ross's use of first person POV-style shooting of one character talking to another that is not seen on camera and only heard. He wrote, "It is a dangling conversation approach that goes quickly from being intriguing to being annoying, pointing to artifice rather than serving the story", and added, "I hope it doesn't prevent some audiences from getting the larger point that we should be talking about".^[15] Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly felt the a disconnection with Elwood and Turner by the POV approach, explaining, "Both Wilson and Herisse give subtle, affecting performances but the first-person approach means they are often not on camera. Their performances are largely experiential, which makes it difficult to connect with their work on an emotional level".^[16]

Carla Renata writing for TheWrap applauded Alex Somers and Scott Alario's music score, casting and performances. She expressed: "This may sound like another Black trauma porn motion picture sanctioned by Hollywood to exploit Black history for financial gain. Thankfully, through the lens of Ross, this narrative doesn't fall into that trap we have seen for decades. Ross [...] brings his unique cinematic sensibility, allowing audiences to experience this type of story from a sensory perspective".^[17] IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film an "A" grade, emphasizing the film's visual style and storytelling technique.^[5] David Canfield of Vanity Fair wrote the film's "avant-garde approach is cannily balanced by its moral urgency and aesthetic rigor. Like last year's The Zone of Interest, it all but reinvents the language for movies about a particular, dark historical chapter, and seems primed to spark conversations about both its content and its form".^[9]

• Official website
• Nickel Boys at IMDb