Nickel Boys: Modernity burdened with bigotry

Is Nickel Boys an engaging and well-told tale of black America? This writer offers their thoughts...

Erin Robinson
28th January 2025
Image source: IMDb
RaMell Ross is a daring and eclectic director, subverting stereotypical third person cinema in an amazing adaptation of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

The first-person cinematography was a trippy and distracting method of storytelling, which at first throws off the viewer. However, once the audience realises that the sole viewing of our central characters is through each other’s eyes, the decision to put us in Elwood and then Turner’s shoes is widely accepted.

The film aims to fully cement an audience in the shoes of a young black boy in 1960s Florida who is sent to a reformatory school, showcasing the severe and traumatic racism experienced by this marginalised group. It invokes empathy throughout its exploration of Elwood’s life from childhood to his assignment to the school and emphasises the importance of black community in the face of discrimination. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor gives a stand-out performance as Nana Hattie, providing an important presentation of an older generation who hopes to reform the world for her grandson.

an amazing and devastating exploration of an under-represented portion of black American history that all audiences should endeavour to watch!

The film makes excellent and compelling use of soundscape to increase atmosphere, and the stylistic choice of home video-like cinematography brings the audience ever closer to the events of the story. A car drives past with a cross burdened on the truck bed - a clear and decisive declaration of the historic bigotry that the supposedly modern 1960s society is tasked with. RaMell Ross is terrific in his use of imagery, with alligators and horses littering the scenery - with the main takeaway being that Turner loved Elwood so much he became him in order to preserve his memory.

Tense and oftentimes scary, Nickel Boys is an amazing and devastating exploration of an under-represented portion of black American history that all audiences should endeavour to watch!

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