Colson Whitehead adaptation ‘breaks the rules of cinema’

A US film which has divided critics over its unusual style of shooting is gaining momentum in the Oscars race following its premiere at the London Film Festival.

Nickel Boys is adapted from the 2019 novel by Colson Whitehead which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

It follows Elwood Curtis and his friend Turner – two young men who are abused during their time at a reform school called the Nickel Academy in 1960s Florida.

The film has gained attention not just for its awards potential, but also the way it is filmed, with the viewer seeing everything from the two lead characters’ point of view.

The style will be familiar to older audiences who remember a similar concept being used occasionally on films and TV series such as Channel 4’s Peep Show.

In Nickel Boys, it is used as a tool to help viewers see and experience things as the characters do, which some critics have said makes for a more immersive viewing experience.

“Nickel Boys is a cinematic experience unlike any other,” said Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri.

“Usually, a movie shot like this is either a curio or a catastrophe… But in [director RaMell] Ross’s hands, the conceit never feels like a gimmick, or a flourish.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s Lovia Gyarkye said the treatment “imbues Nickel Boys with an overwhelming intimacy”.

The film’s stars walked the red carpet on Monday evening as the film received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival.

The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2022 for her performance opposite Will Smith in King Richard.

Nickel Boys focuses on Elwood, a promising young man who is on his way to college when he accepts a lift from a man who pulls over to ask where he’s headed.

The car turns out to be stolen – and when police stop the vehicle, Elwood is transported to the nearby Nickel Academy, a so-called reform school where boys are purportedly taught how to become good men, but in reality are beaten and abused, with some dying from their injuries.

The boys at the academy spend long hours working or doing community service. Despite slavery having been abolished a century earlier, the academy is essentially used as a way to exploit free black labour.

The novel is based partly on the real-life Dozier School in Florida, which operated for 111 years and was later revealed to have been highly abusive.

An investigation in 2010 found 31 unmarked graves of pupils whose deaths had not been recorded, and many more have been discovered by other investigations in the years since. It’s now understood more than 100 boys died at the school.

Despite its serious subject matter, there is plenty to enjoy about Nickel Boys as a film, including the excellent direction. It doesn’t take long to adjust to the point-of-view style and the cinematography is beautiful.

“It makes its own rules, and breaks them,” said Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily. “It’s very exciting from a cinematic perspective.”

Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson described Nickel Boys as “the most formally inventive of its fall-movie-season brethren, a bold swing of a literary adaptation that mostly earns its gimmick”.

“Artfully made and absorbing to watch, Nickel Boys is a risk-taking drama that makes unorthodox choices about memories and perspectives,” said Carla Hay of Culture Mix.

Not all critics were keen, however. Variety’s Peter Debruge said Ross “tries something bold”, but ultimately said “the experiment collapses upon itself”.

Deadline’s Pete Hammond agreed, saying the POV-style “gets very repetitive” and “goes quickly from being intriguing to being annoying”.

Nickel Boys is released in the UK on 8 November. Awards season effectively kicks off the following month with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations.