Writers: RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Director: RaMell Ross
RaMell Ross’ approach to filming Colson Whitehead’s book Nickel Boys is sure to divide audiences; some will adore the stylised point of view camera work that shows the audience impressions of the harsh reform school through the eyes of protagonist Elwood while others will find Ross’ style overly indulgent and sometimes actively unhelpful in conveying the intensity of this often-horrifying story of abuse and mistreatment. Co-adapted by Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys’ episodic approach does convey the unregulated practices of the reform school discovered decades later but rather surprisingly given Ross’ perspective-based film, loses out on the personalities and intimacy between its leads.
Young scholar Elwood is encouraged by his teacher to apply to a technical college in Florida but on the way his hitchhiked ride is pulled over and the innocent Elwood is sent to the Nickel Academy for an unspecified stay. Learning the rules on his first day, Elwood and grandmother Hattie are sure he will soon be released but segregated life in the school is tough, filled with manual labour and harsh punishments that. When Elwood meets Turner, a friendship develops but so too does their knowledge of the school’s corruption.
Nickel Boys is not an easy film to connect to despite its subject matter and Ross’ directorial choices only exacerbate the sometimes-problematic transfer of a biography to the screen. The latter means that Elwood’s life is presented as a series of events which across the film’s rather lengthy 2 hour and 20-minute running time begins to slow the pace. Cutting between the young Elwood’s experience in the early 1960s which dominates the film and his counterpart 20-years later who is investigating the former site, only enhances the expectation of a more connected ‘story’ than eventually emerges with neither version of Elwood being given time to reflect on his experiences and their physical, emotional and mental health consequences across his life.
Ross’ camera work impedes this showing the viewer Elwood’s perspective, actively what he sees through his eyes, but never truly inside the character, giving actor Ethan Herisse very little scope to play all of the character’s personality. When the director takes a sci-fi jump into Turner’s head instead (Brandon Wilson) we see Elwood only as a broken and damaged young man but there’s no opportunity to experience the spark of his personality before Nickel, his love of learning or any aspects of this friendship with Turner that brings him an at least muted joy and understanding.
It is also technically frustrating that the film ends up with shaky footage when inside the head of a moving character which directors think resembles reality when we walk, but the sophistication of the connection between the eye and the brain levels out the picture we actually see so the world isn’t constantly bouncing around. Sadly, cameras are not as technically advanced as that yet but this approach persists as a mark of ‘authenticity.’
There are things to like in Nickel Boys, not least the use of news and other footage to subtly provide a backdrop of a growing civil rights activism in America at the time, helping audiences to see the suffering of men at the tail end of a system beginning to change, but the film gets distracted by an intrusive technique that misses opportunities to reveal the truth about places like Nickel and their effects on those who survived them.
Nickel Boys is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
