Based on the novel of the same name, Nickel Boys is an engaging story set in Florida during the Jim Crow era. Despite some great scenes and an interesting premise, the movie’s slow first half and cinematography make it a mixed bag.
Elwood is a young man who shows promise in school despite not having access to the same standards of education as white kids. He hears about a college offering free classes, and on his way there, he’s picked up by a stranger who is revealed to be driving a stolen car. Elwood is then wrongfully sent to the Nickel Academy, a segregated school for reforming youths.
The early scenes do a good job of establishing Elwood’s character. He is a naive and hopeful teenager who wants to aid the civil rights movement and get a good education. He is kind to a fault and easy to root for as a protagonist.
His character is evened out by Turner, a boy who befriends Elwood and shows him the ropes at Nickel. Turner is cynical and has adopted the “every man for himself” mentality that all the other boys in the segregated section have. Turner has a lot more personality shining through in his scenes than Elwood does, and it would have helped if his backstory had been more developed.
The film’s direction and editing vary from interesting to distracting and seemingly random -- consisting mostly of first-person shots from Elwood’s or Turner’s perspective. This gimmick works at first, but the movie doesn’t do interesting things with it. There are also many cuts to different historical footage, daydreams, or random images.
After a while, the editing becomes annoying. Instead of thinking “Oh, I wonder what that means?” I started to think, “Just focus on the plot.” It’s something that doesn’t help the first half of a movie, which had great potential, which already feels slow.
The second half is where the drama steps up. Elwood becomes determined to expose the corruption and abuse happening at Nickel. Those in charge go as far as killing some of the black students and covering up the murders as runaways. When the danger creeps in on Elwood and Turner, it adds tension that the story is missing.
This is far from the first story that features the discrimination and brutality that Black people faced in the Jim Crow era. That’s probably why the direction went for something unique so it stands out. It’s a fine story with good performances all around, but there’s nothing here that will blow anyone away.
Author Bio:
Ulises Duenas is Highbrow Magazine’s senior writer and film critic.
For Highbrow Magazine