Nickel Boys: Movie Review

Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, Jimmie Fails, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Director: RaMell Ross

That a story about an African-American man's struggle in the 1960s Civil Rights movement shot in the first person can be so immersive and engaging while presenting a different take on a familiar journey is a testament to Ross' filmmaking.

It's the story of  Elwood Curtis (Herisse), a boy destined for greatness who finds himself sent to a reform school after being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, things get worse when Elwood discovers - and is a victim of - the true abusive nature of the school.

Nickel Boys starts with dreamy imagery of a childhood, snatched on lazy hazy days in the sun. Memories and recollections swirl across the screen pulling together a briefly disparate story that jumps around initially before setting itself on a more linear path.

But in those opening moments, Ross sets the tone for the film - and begins to subtly immerse viewers in Elwood's life, his hopes, his peers and his family. Swapping the perspective in parts later on in the 2hour 20 minute film helps to make the film equally engaging, jumping as it does to life of Elwood's friend Turner.

Adapted from Colson Whitehead's novel, the film makes a case for the injustices of the time without ever using a sledgehammer to get its point across. Infused with sensitivity and subtlety, the almost sensory approach to the tale marks it as something uniquely different in the way this kind of heartbreakingly familiar story is told.

Nickel Boys is streaming on Prime Video from February 27.