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Brandon Wilson stars as Turner in director RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys, from Orion Pictures. Photo credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Artist-turned-director RaMell Ross’ beautiful, innovative, and moving adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Nickel Boys is an immersive, emotional experience that uses a Pov camera to put you into the first-person experience of two young Black boys, Elwood and Turner, and the bonds of friendship that grow between them after they meet at a Jim Crow-era reform school in Florida, a brutal place known as the Nickel Academy.

Although this is RaMell Ross’ first film, the artist’s directorial debut is strong, showing an unexpected mastery of cinematic art. Nickel Boys is a remarkable film, a moving human drama about childhood friendship in the Jim Crow South between two very different Black boys who nonetheless form a powerful bond. Scenes have a painterly beauty,...

A groundbreaking adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel from 2019, RaMell Ross’ poetic and visionary Nickel Boys finds its resilient spirit and lyrical temperament in the details. The opening of the film—shot (like the rest of it) in a boxed 4:3 aspect ratio that amplifies its intimately searching feel...

The upcoming historical drama Nickel Boys is already receiving Oscars buzz following a successful premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August and a Golden Globe nomination, leading to audience interest in watching the film once it arrives in theaters. Nickel Boys follows Elwood Curtis, played by Ethan Herisse, and Turner, played by Brandon Wilson, as they attempt to survive through their time at an abusive boys' school called Nickel Academy, and the film also features a great supporting cast with some recognizable faces.

Nickel Boys is based on the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, already pointing the movie toward a positive reception. Furthermore, the book and movie did have real-life inspiration, making its meaning even deeper. The movie was filmed in 2022 in Louisiana, and, interestingly, Nickel Boys was shot from a first-person perspective. Luckily for curious audiences, the Amazon MGM...

It's worth starting this review by saying I have read the Colson Whitehead novel Nickel Boys is based on, and very recently. In fact, it was the rapturous festival reactions to the film, many of which emphasized it as an achievement of adaptation, that inspired me to seek out the book ahead of time. I'm glad I did – it's a wonderful book. Having read it, however, did shape my response to this movie.

Set in Jim Crow-era Florida, two Black teens, Elwood Curtis and Turner, endure the brutal conditions of Nickel Academy, a reformatory for boys. While Turner teaches survival through cynicism, Elwood clings to his belief in justice, despite the horrors around them. Their friendship offers a glimmer of hope amidst a backdrop of systemic racism and violence.

Director RaMell RossWriters Colson Whitehead, Joslyn Barnes, RaMell RossCast Mike Harkins, Najah Bradley, Ethan Cole Sharp, LeBaron Foster Thornton, Escalante Lundy,...

Nickel Boys isn't just a powerful movie about important and relevant themes. It's also an audacious burst of brilliance that uses some of cinema's unique and immersive capabilities to create a lasting experience. This is a movie everyone needs to see. The movie is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, which itself is based on the true stories of the Dozier School in Florida, known for 111 years of abusing and murdering its students.

However, before any of that becomes part of the story unfolding on the screen, first-time narrative feature director RaMell Ross (Oscar-nominated for his documentary work) has already gripped audiences with lyrical and evocative filmmaking. From the moment the movie begins, the audience embodies the first-person perspective of a young Black boy living in the Jim Crow South. All exposition is handled as we experience the world around him. The cinematography and sound design are main characters from the rip,...

The cast and director of “Nickel Boys,” the Amazon/MGM Studios and Orion/Plan B film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, gathered for a conversation and audience Q&a following a Saturday evening screening at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Los Angeles. Moderator Carla Renata spoke with Oscar-nominated director RaMell Ross and stars Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson about the importance of telling Black stories, the impact of the themes explored in “Nickel Boys” and why the actors were cast in their respective roles.

Adapted for the big screen by Ross and co-screenwriter Joslyn Barnes, “Nickel Boys” tells the story of two teenagers — Elwood (Herisse) and Turner (Wilson) — living in Jim Crow-era Florida who become friends while enduring physical and psychological abuse as wards of a juvenile reform center called the Nickel Academy. The academy is a fictionalized version of the infamous Dozier School for Boys,...

RaMell Ross’ arresting narrative debut Nickel Boys does not, like the Colson Whitehead novel on which it’s based, begin with an exhumation. It opens, instead, with signs of life: oranges dangling from the branches of a tree; a hand caressing the grass, a beckoning voice calling “Elwood, Elwood, Elwood” like a song.

Details like these matter in Nickel Boys, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before it opens New York Film Festival next month, because they mark the passage of time and honor family rituals. Inside the house: glimpses of a gold bracelet wrapped around a delicate wrist, the sound of cards being shuffled and honeyed laughs bouncing off the walls. These details shape memories, eventually ossifying into evidence of an existence.

In his Oscar-nominated directorial debut Hale County, This Morning, This Evening, Ross constructed a stunning and unforgettable portrait of Hale County, Alabama. He sculpted a roughly...