Nickel Boys

Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross, is up for two Oscar awards at the upcoming ceremony on March 2. It deserved a few more nominations, including one for its cinematography that details the alternating perspectives of its teenage lead characters, Elwood and Turner. This tragic story, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Colson Whitehead, hits even harder in this visual format, backed by some exceptional performances. Set in 1960s Florida, the story sees change coming to the US in the form of the civil rights movement and space travel, but in some places it feels like time never changed. Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a promising young Black teenager with a bright future, is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Transferred to the Nickel Academy, a reform school for juvenile delinquents, he learns how cruel the world can really be. Separated from his beloved grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), he makes a friend in Turner (Brandon Wilson), who is desperate to escape from the clutches of the evil wardens.