Some movies are so special that you know you are watching something major despite its flaws. This is the case with Nickel Boys, the narrative feature debut of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker RaMell Ross. With Nickel Boys, Ross takes an entirely distinctive approach to its subject matter, telling a story the likes of which we have seen before in a way that feels unlike anything else you’ve seen before.

Nickel Boys Review

Based on the novel by Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad), Nickel Boys tells the story of two teenagers subjected to awful treatment while living at a reform school in North Florida. The story is based on a real-life reform school that made national headlines in the late 2010s when dozens of unmarked graves of victims of the school’s staff were discovered.

Brandon Wilson stars as Turner in director RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys, from Orion Pictures. Photo credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures.