Movie Review: Nickel Boys

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A simply powerful film. 

This movie follows black two teenage boys who were sentenced to a reform school in the Jim Crow south of the 1960's. This is not a film that is easy to watch or one that can often be called enjoyable. Despite this it is an essential watch for any movie fan. This movie forces us to look directly at America's racist past making it near impossible to look away. We are forced to either learn from it or consciously try to block it out. There have been many films about racism in recent years but few of them have had the sheer emotional impact of this movie. I found myself overcome with emotion and very angry that in relatively recent history this could have happened in my country (and the need to make sure it doesn't ever happen again). Besides the dark but important subject matter, the strong emotional impact also comes from very intelligent filmmaking. Most of the film is told through point of view shots that alternate from being from the point of view of both of our main characters. While this may sound like just a gimmick, it does not come off as such. In fact, it feels perfectly natural, and we understand that this was the best way to tell the story. It forces us to live in these characters' shoes for over two hours. This makes everything that happens to them feel all the more real and horrific to us. This movie doesn't announce that this is the way the story is being told. Rather we must figure it out on our own. This choice works especially well in the opening scenes. Not knowing yet that this film is telling its story from point of view shots, we feel as if we are watching an almost avantgarde montage of happy and calming images. This puts us in a mood of tranquility and contentment. Over the course of the film these feelings are violently and suddenly ripped away from us, which makes us subconsciously feel a deep emotional connection with these characters. As dark as this movie's subject matter is though, it avoids showing the most gruesome scenes onscreen. Leaving these scenes to our imaginations though conjures up much more disturbing images in our minds than anything a movie can show us. How well made this movie is makes it all the more impressive that this is only director, RaMell Ross' second feature length film and his first non-documentary movie. Great performances by Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson also help this film feel all the more real and powerful. 

It may not be easy to watch this movie, but that is exactly what makes it such a powerful film.