“Nickel Boys,” directed by RaMell Ross, is a historical drama set in the Jim Crow South. It follows Elwood as he is sent to a segregated, all-boys reform school, Nickel Academy, after being wrongly accused and convicted of being an accomplice in a car theft. When arriving at Nickel Academy, Elwood meets Turner and they quickly build a friendship. 

While attending Nickel Academy, Elwood witnesses and endures grave mistreatment and abuse by the hands of those running the academy. In response, Elwood began keeping a diary of everything he witnessed and experienced at the academy in hopes of exposing and shutting down the academy. With the help of Turner, Elwood was able to get his diary to a government inspector visiting Nickel Academy, the diary made its way back to the academy’s administration who began to retaliate against Elwood, leading to Elwood and Turner’s attempted escape.

Did they end up escaping, were they caught? I’m not telling you because I deeply want you all to watch this film and trust me, this description barely scratches the surface. 

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this film since I watched it and there’s many reasons for that. I mean the story itself is just so devastatingly beautiful that you can’t help but think about the experience these boys went through, especially after learning that this film was inspired by the Dozier School for Boys, a center that abused its students for decades until it was eventually shut down in 2011. The acting was phenomenal from beginning to end from both Ethan Herisse (Elwood) and Brandon Wilson (Turner), the two leading men. But we also received a stellar performance from Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor who played Elwood’ loving grandmother. 

While these things definitely made the film memorable, there’s one thing about this film that truly makes it stand out and that’s the fact that it was shot in first person, specifically through the perspectives of Elwood and Turner. When the film starts, we are immediately met with Elwood’ point of view, in fact we don’t actually see what Elwood truly looks like until he meets Turner. For the entire film, we’re seeing the lives and experiences of these boys through their own eyes, which has really stuck with me. 

I’ll be honest you’ll either love the first person perspective or hate it, personally I loved it. There’s something about witnessing the lives of two young Black boys in the Jim Crow South who are experiencing horrid abuses through their own eyes. In my opinion, it makes everything so much more personal, as if you, the viewer, are Elwood or Turner, as if you are experiencing exactly what they’re experiencing alongside them, rather than watching them from afar and simply observing them. The first person perspective makes you feel more involved, more close to the story, which made me see the boys more like people rather than characters in a movie. I have never seen something done like this before and I still can’t fully explain why it means so much to me.

While “Nickel Boys” was acknowledged by The Academy and received two nominations, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, it walked away empty handed and is still a film many don’t know about. I highly recommend taking 2 hours and 20 minutes out of your day to watch “Nickel Boys,” I don’t think you’ll regret it.