Some films only need to be seen once to fully grasp the intentions and purpose of the filmmaker. “Nickel Boys,” RaMell Ross’ evocative adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is not one of those films.
The film, which opens Jan. 3 in Bay Area theaters, is like a prism, constantly revealing a new and different angle as it proceeds.
Ross’ novel approach tells Whitehead’s tale, based on true events, about two young Black men stuck in a wretched juvenile Florida reformatory school, the site of relentless and sometimes fatal abuse. What makes it a unique film about being Black in America is that it’s told from both teens’ perspective, literally changing its POV as the story evolves. It is revelatory to behold. It’s also initially off-putting and takes some getting used to since it goes against the grain of conventional narratives. The result is something far more soulful, truthful, tragic and joyous than what we would “see” in a linear fashion.
The daring approach (cinematographer Jomo Fray deserves a lot of credit for helping pull this off) creates a stirring string of inter-connected impressionistic coming-of-age sequences, all of which get edited with grace and fluidity by Nicholas Monsour. Each scene grants access to the mostly Jim Crow-era world seen from the eyes of Ellwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) as each bear witness to brutal injustices and multi-storied racism.
One of the most indelible scenes features Ellwood staring at a truck with a KKK-ready cross in its bed. But Ross balances those with moments of sheer beauty – the look of unconditional love from a grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), an unexpected friendship that buds, blossoms and then goes on to haunt one of boys forever.
Ross’ film, like Whitehead’s novel, refuses to serve as a one-note cinematic treatise on Black trauma. One of the key narrative threads centers on the adult Ellwood (Daveed Diggs) who is forced to confront a wraith-like fallout from the past when numerous boys’ bodies get dug up the Nickel Academy grounds. (The real-life Floridan Dozier School for Boys served as the basis for the film and novel.)
Ross spares no anguish when depicting the young victims of the academy, but he also refuses to define them solely by their trauma. To that point, Ross also refrains from graphically depicting the horrible acts committed, so they don’t overwhelm his story.
He and production designer Nora Mendis further heighten what it’s like for Ellwood and Turner growing up during that volatile period through various visual cues (a collection of memorabilia magnetized to grandma Hattie’s refrigerator is rife with more defining detail and context). Ross uses visual metaphors – including alligators – to that purpose, adding another layer of symbolism you might want to explore in more viewings.
Ross’ storytelling approach does present a formidable challenge to actors: All in the cast must be willing to use the most of their limited in-front-of-the-camera screen time since we don’t see directly into Ellwood’s face until the perspective switches to Turner. Both Wilson and Herisse make the reveal of their faces seem like a natural conclusion, while Diggs conveys through body language the turmoil of what his character is undergoing. But it is Ellis-Taylor’s big-hearted performance as a grandmother with enormous reservoirs of love and compassion that deepens the soul of this beautiful groundbreaking work of art, an achievement that we’ll be talking about and referencing in years to come.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com
‘NICKEL BOYS’
4 stars out of 4
Rated: PG-13 (violence)
Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Daveed Diggs, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Director: RaMell Ross
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
When & where: Opens Jan. 3 in Bay Area theaters