I like to open these reviews with an anecdote of some kind to say why I went to the movie or something I find interesting about the people who made it, and I wasn’t quite sure before seeing the movie how to open the review. I was thinking about saying something about writer Colson Whitehead and how his novels have been popping up more and more on my radar to the point where I think I should read one soon (I read his memoir recently, but that was not a novel), or maybe how I am going to make an effort over the next few weeks to catch up on the Oscar nominees for Best Picture I missed before. But then as I sat down to watch Nickel Boys, something happened: I realized I was watching the second movie in a row where much of the action takes place from the point of view of one of the characters.
OK, Presence used a ghost, and the POV here comes from two very much alive young African American men, but the point stands.
The film opens, seeing through the eyes of young Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp for most of the movie) as he grows up, goes to school, and is taken care of by his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). It’s the 1960s, Elwood is in Florida, and when another black man offers him a ride to some college classes, Elwood accepts before finding out that the man is driving a stolen car. Elwood then is sent to the segregated reform school Nickel Academy where he will be put to work until someone decides he is free to go. Once there, he meets Turner (Brandon Wilson), a much more cynical youth who has been through Nickel Academy before. The two soon become friends.
However, something happens at about the forty minute mark: the camera switches from Elwood’s perspective to Turner’s. Now, to be clear, the movie didn’t exactly go out of its way to hide Elwood’s face or anything. He sees himself in various photographs and reflections, but what happens next is the perspective switches back and forth, often in mid-conversation between the two, as Elwood and Turner try their best to stay under the radar and get out of Nickel. Elwood, an idealistic kid, thinks his grandmother and her lawyer will eventually prevail or that the law will do something if what happens at Nickel Academy, such as the beatings and other obvious signs of corruption from the school’s administrator Spencer (Hamish Linklater). And every so often, the movie shifts to the future where an adult Elwood (Daveed Diggs) is looking into news reports on what’s been found at the Nickel Academy since he long since left the place and moved to New York City. The adult Elwood scenes, it should be noted, are unique in that they are filmed behind him, showing the back of his head, rather than seeing things through his eyes. There’s a feeling, justifiably so, that something terrible happened to one or both of these boys before they left the Academy. What is it?
Considering this is director RaMell Ross’s narrative film debut–he’s mostly made documentaries from the looks of things–it’s quite impressive. The perspective shifts do make things a little disorienting at times, to the point where once the perspectives started switching, I wasn’t always sure whose eyes I was seeing through, but when I got to the end, it actually made a lot of sense about why Ross used that technique. The performances are solid, and even if it isn’t exactly a surprise that the Black kids are being misused, the way the story is told makes it a lot more effective as the two boys’ different ideas on how to survive and get out of the Academy make for a great contrast. Beyond the perspective shifts, Ross also intercuts with other things, like clips from the movie The Defiant Ones, particularly focusing on Sidney Poitier’s scenes, plus news footage about the Apollo missions to the moon that would lead to the eventual moon landing, plus Martin Luther King’s speeches. Elwood’s obvious naivete is clearly not going to work, but the question comes up about how far Turner is willing to go to help his friend follow through on the very plans that Turner thinks are too naive to succeed.
I will say that the POV work may not work for everybody, and some of Ross’s symbolism is hardly subtle given the random alligators that appear from time-to-time. But what the movie is essentially about is the friendship between Elwood and Turner and what the two would do to help each other, with Elwood perhaps making Turner a little more idealistic while Turner essentially is helping Elwood stay alive, and quite literally at that. It’s not a subtle movie, but Ross manages to toss off some moments, like showing how young some of the boys working in Nickel’s fields are, that come close. This isn’t a movie that will preach a message to you as seen by the ending, but what it will do, it does incredibly well.
Grade: A-
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