Nickel Boys

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Nickel Boys
File:Nickel Boys film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by RaMell Ross
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Screenplay by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Based on The Nickel Boys
by Colson Whitehead
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Cinematography Jomo Fray
Edited by Nicholas Monsour
Production
company
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Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • August 30, 2024 (2024-08-30) (Telluride)
  • December 13, 2024 (2024-12-13) (United States)
Running time
 140 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $23.2 million
Box office $215,030[2]

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 and Brandon Wilson, alongside 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. The film premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on December 13, 2024. It received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by the American Film Institute.[3] It received several accolades, including a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, and five nominations at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture.

Plot

In 1962 Jim Crow era Tallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis appears destined for great things in the classroom. His Black teacher encourages him to think for himself, rejecting Southern textbooks' slanted view of history.

Elwood is raised by his doting grandmother, who worries that white society will retaliate against him if he participates in the growing Civil Rights Movement. One day, Elwood is accepted into a tuition-free accelerated study program at an HBCU, but while hitchhiking to campus, he is picked up by a man driving a stolen car. The police catch the man and convict Elwood of being his accomplice. Because Elwood is underage, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school.

Nickel is internally segregated; White students enjoy comfortable accommodations and personal attention from staff, while Black students are housed in shabby facilities and the school makes little attempt to educate them. Although the Black students are told that they can be released for good behavior, in practice they cannot leave until they turn eighteen, as the school makes money hiring them out as convict labor. In addition, it is implied that some students are sexually abused.

Elwood bonds with Turner, another quiet student. However, while Elwood is inspired by the non-violent and democratic ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, Turner is cynical, expects only mistreatment from society, and urges Elwood to keep his head down. Elwood is bullied and beaten by another student, but the administrators do not help him: instead, they savagely beat both students. Elwood's grandmother scrimps and saves to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction, but the lawyer runs away with her money, devastating Elwood. A white school administrator who bets on Nickel's annual Black-White boxing match quietly executes a Black student who either refused or forgot to take a dive.

In flashforwards, the adult Elwood lives in New York City, where he runs his own moving business. He does not appear to be in contact with Turner. He is badly shaken after learning that many unmarked graves have been discovered at the old Nickel campus. Forensic evidence reveals that most of the dead students were Black.

Back in the 1960s, Elwood, fed up with his mistreatment, writes up an expose and convinces a reluctant Turner to deliver it to a government inspector. However, nothing happens, and the administrators retaliate by torturing Elwood in the school sweatbox. Turner learns that the school plans to kill Elwood. To prevent this, Turner and Elwood run away from school together. However, without a car, they are quickly caught. Turner escapes into the woods, but Elwood is still exhausted from his ordeal in the sweatbox and cannot keep up with him. He is shot and killed.

A montage shows that Turner safely reached Tallahassee, where he delivered the news of Elwood's death to his grandmother. He then moved North and took on Elwood's name. He marries, builds a stable life, and tries to honor Elwood's legacy by embracing some of his ideals. When the government begins investigating the school, Turner decides to testify about his experiences.

Cast

  • Ethan Herisse as Elwood, a boy who is sent to reform school after being unjustly convicted for helping steal a car
    • Ethan Cole Sharp as young Elwood
    • Daveed Diggs as adult "Elwood," a businessman in New York City
  • Brandon Wilson as Turner, Elwood's friend at Nickel Academy
  • Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Hattie, Elwood's grandmother
  • Hamish Linklater as Spencer, Nickel Academy's corrupt white administrator
  • Fred Hechinger as Harper, a school employee who helps oversee Nickel's convict labor program
  • Jimmie Fails as Mr. Hill, Elwood's encouraging high school teacher

Production

File:RaMell Ross 2018 (cropped).jpg
Director and co-writer RaMell Ross

The adaptation of Colson Whitehead's 2019 novel, The Nickel Boys, into a feature film was reported in October 2022. RaMell Ross, previously known for his 2018 Academy Award-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, signed on to direct, making it his narrative feature directorial debut.[4] Joslyn Barnes co-wrote and produced and Whitehead served as executive producer. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Ethan Herisse, Fred Hechinger, Hamish Linklater, and Brandon Wilson were cast in the lead roles.[5]

On a production budget of $23.2 million, principal photography took place in Louisiana from October to December 2022.[6][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.[9] Ross explained this process in an interview: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

"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".[10]

Release

Nickel Boys had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024.[11] It was the opening film at the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on September 27, 2024.

The film was originally set to have a limited theatrical release in New York City on October 25, 2024 and Los Angeles on November 1, before streaming on Prime Video on an unspecified date.[12] However, the film's release was pushed further, with the film now premiered in New York City on December 13 and in Los Angeles on December 20; Amazon MGM Studios is additionally preparing prints on 35mm film for the updated release.[13] It is set to be released by Curzon Film in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2025.[14]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 101 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Director RaMell Ross' stylistically radical approach to adapting Colson Whitehead's searing novel will be jarring for some, but Nickel Boys' sense of immersion achieves the jaw-dropping effect of walking in another's shoes."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 89 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[16]

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.[17] 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".[18] Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly felt 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".[19]

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".[20] IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film an "A" grade, emphasizing the film's visual style and storytelling technique.[9] 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".[10]

Filmmaker Barry Jenkins named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying "This is medium-defining work — aesthetically, spiritually — a rich and overwhelming cinema where the camera is always curious and what it finds is always arresting. In a time where there are more ways to make a film than ever (and yet less variation in the look, the feel, the shape of those films than in any other point in the medium’s history) RaMell has given us a new way of seeing. It is a thing to make one both humbled… and filled with gratitude."[21]

Sight & Sound put the film as their seventh pick on their list of the best 50 movies of 2024.[4]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Middleburg Film Festival October 20, 2024 Special Achievement in Filmmaking Award RaMell Ross Honored [22]
Chicago International Film Festival October 23, 2024 Vanguard Award Honored [23]
Denver International Film Festival November 10, 2024 Excellence in Directing Award Honored [24]
Stockholm International Film Festival November 15, 2024 Bronze Horse Nickel Boys Won [25]
Camerimage November 23, 2024 Director's Debut Competitions Jomo Fray Nominated [26]
Gotham Awards December 2, 2024 Best Feature RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and David Levine Nominated [27]
Best Director RaMell Ross Won
Breakthrough Performer Brandon Wilson Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards December 3, 2024 Best Director RaMell Ross Won [28]
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Won
Winter IndieWire Honors December 5, 2024 Auteur Award RaMell Ross Won [29]
Astra Film Awards December 8, 2024 Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Nominated [30]
Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Nominated
Astra Creative Arts Awards December 8, 2024 Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association December 8, 2024 Cinematography Won [31]
Editing Nicholas Monsour Won[lower-alpha 1]
Boston Society of Film Critics December 8, 2024 Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Won [32]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association December 8, 2024 Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Nominated [33]
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Nominated
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association December 12, 2024 Best Film Nickel Boys Nominated [34]
Best Director RaMell Ross Won
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Won
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Won
Best Editing Nicolas Monsour Nominated
Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker RaMell Ross Won
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle December 15, 2024 Best Film Nickel Boys Nominated [35]
Best Director RaMell Ross Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes Nominated
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association December 15, 2024 Best Film Nickel Boys Won [36]
Best Director RaMell Ross Won
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Won
St. Louis Film Critics Association December 15, 2024 Best Film Nickel Boys Nominated [37]
Best Director RaMell Ross Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Won
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Nominated
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Best Editing Nicholas Monsour Won
Best First Feature RaMell Ross Won
New York Film Critics Online December 16, 2024 Best Director Nominated [38]
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Society December 16, 2024 Best Cinematography Won [39]
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association December 18, 2024 Best Picture Nickel Boys 8th place [40]
Best Director RaMell Ross 5th place
Florida Film Critics Circle December 20, 2024 Best Director Nominated [41]
Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Nominated
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Nominated
Golden Globe Awards January 5, 2025 Best Motion Picture – Drama Nickel Boys Pending [42]
Austin Film Critics Association January 6, 2025 Best Film Pending [43]
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Pending
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards January 11, 2025 Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Pending [44]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards January 12, 2025 Best Picture Nickel Boys Pending [45]
Best Director RaMell Ross Pending
Best Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Pending
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Pending
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending
Satellite Awards January 26, 2025 Best Motion Picture – Drama Nickel Boys Pending [46]
Best Director RaMell Ross Pending
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Pending
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending
African-American Film Critics Association February 2, 2025 Gen Next Award Brandon Wilson and Ethan Herisse Honored [47]
Karen & Stanley Kramer Social Justice Award Nickel Boys Honored
February 19, 2025 Spotlight Award RaMell Ross Honored
Black Reel Awards February 10, 2025 Outstanding Film Nickel Boys Pending [48]
Outstanding Director RaMell Ross Pending
Outstanding Supporting Performance Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Pending
Brandon Wilson Pending
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance Pending
Ethan Herisse Pending
Outstanding Ensemble Victoria Thomas Pending
Outstanding Screenplay RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Pending
Outstanding Breakthrough Screenwriter RaMell Ross Pending
Outstanding Emerging Director Pending
Outstanding Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending
Outstanding Production Design Nora Mendis, Elizabeth Herberg and Monique Champagne Pending
Outstanding Hairstyling & Makeup Iganica Soto-Aguilar and Shandrea Williams Pending
Artios Awards February 12, 2025 Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Feature Studio or Independent Film (Drama) Victoria Thomas; Jennifer Yoo, Meagan Lewis Pending [49]
Independent Spirit Awards February 22, 2025 Best Feature Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and David Levine Pending [50]
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending
Alliance of Women Film Journalists TBA Best Film Nickel Boys Pending [51]
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Pending
Best Adapted Screenplay RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Colson Whitehead Pending
Best Cinematography Jomo Fray Pending

Notes

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References

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External links

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  21. ↑ https://variety.com/lists/christopher-nolan-gladiator-2-michael-mann-barry-jenkins/blitz/
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