Nickel Boys

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Two young black men form a bond in a cruel reform school in Nickel Boys. Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) is a young African-American man in 1962 in Tallahassee, Florida. He has a seemingly bright future when his high school teacher, Mr. Hill (Jimmie Fails), gets Elwood enrolled in a tuition-free accelerated study program at an HBCU. However, Elwood “enters the wrong car” while hitchhiking and ends up being charged as an accomplice when the car turns out to be stolen.

To pay off his debt to society, Elwood is sent to Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school run by the racist and cruel white administrator Spencer (Hamish Linklater). Elwood ends up befriending fellow student Turner (Brandon Wilson), who warns that there are only a few ways to get out of Nickel, none of them good. While Turner tries to make the best of his situation, working as part of an illicit convict labour program for Harper (Fred Hechinger), Elwood holds out hope that he’ll make it out of Nickel and return to his life.

Nickel Boys Synopsis

Nickel Boys is a drama co-written and directed by RaMell Ross, based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, the plot of which is inspired by the real-life Dozier School for Boys. The plot of the film is depicted through the first-person point of view of the protagonists Elwood Curtis and Turner, who both have different ways of adjusting to life at Nickel Academy. Elwood in particular is optimistic that his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) will be successful with her appeal to get Elwood sent home.

The plot of Nickel Boys features multiple flash-forwards to an adult Elwood (Daveed Diggs) living in New York City in the 1980s. It is at this time that the true cruelty that went on at Nickel Academy is being unearthed. This results in Elwood having to confront this painful past.

My Thoughts on Nickel Boys

Nickel Boys is a film that illuminates how cruel the Jim Crow era of American history truly was. At Nickel Academy, the black population is segregated from the better-treated white students and no real attempt is made to educate them, as the black students are exploited for cheap labour tasks. Nickel Academy is also known to its students for its cruel forms of punishment, including beatings, a sweatbox, and an area ominously described as “boot hill.”

I couldn’t but note the parallels between Nickel Academy, based on the real-life Dozier School for Boys, and Canadian residential schools. Indeed, Nickel Boys‘ flash-forwards of an adult Elwood reading reports of mass graves found at Nickel Academy is chillingly similar to Canadian reports about residential school sites just a few years ago and visualized over a decade ago in Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls.

It is for the reason that the film exposes some of the dark history of the United States’ treatment of African Americans that I can understand the acclimation that Nickel Boys has been receiving, which included being named Best Picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association. However, I admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Nickel Boys presenting its plot through the POV of its protagonists. In addition to my usual criticisms of POV cinematography, such as motion sickness, there are times when I was confused about whose POV I was watching the scene in. This is particularly true the first time the film switches to Turner’s POV, with a moment that already played out from Edwood’s perspective.

Nickel Boys also features a “gotcha” moment in the final minutes, which could add to the confusion if you aren’t fully paying attention. Based on your level of engagement, the ending of Nickel Boys can either confirm the film as a masterpiece or come across as a complete cop-out. Either way, the film is worth at least a watch.

Trailer for Nickel Boys