‘Nickel Boys’ Lets You in on the Action

December 12, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , 1 Comment

If I had a Nickel for every Boy… (CREDIT: Courtesy of Orion Pictures)
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Starring: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs

Director: RaMell Ross

Running Time: 140 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Racism and Authoritarianism

Release Date: December 13, 2024 (New York Theaters)/December 20, 2024 (Los Angeles Theaters)

What’s It About?: Young Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) has a promising future ahead of him in 1962 Florida. He’s excited about heading off to college, but then an unfortunate encounter leads to a false accusation and a stint at the brutal reform school Nickel Academy, where he befriends a fellow student/inmate named Turner (Brandon Wilson). Elwood seems more or less confident that he’ll be able to leave eventually, although the truth soon hits him hard as he realizes that he’ll need to be particularly crafty if he wants to return to a life of freedom anytime soon. Meanwhile, the much more hardened Turner has come to accept that the only way to escape before “graduating” is in a body bag. And as bad as all that sounds, occasional flashes to the future reveal that even darker practices are afoot at this institution.

What Made an Impression?: The Power and Limits of POV: If you’re a scholar of filmmaking techniques, you’ll notice something right away that makes Nickel Boys unique. On the other hand, if you’re a complete novice regarding the language of film, you still might notice something, even if you don’t quite have the vocabulary for it. That’s because director/co-writer RaMell Ross and his cinematographer Jomo Fray decided to shoot this whole dang thing from a first-person point of view, as if the camera were strapped to the heads of a couple of the main characters. We mostly follow Elwood’s perspective, but about halfway through, it alternates between his and Turner’s POV. I found this approach more interesting than mesmerizing, although I have noticed that plenty of my colleagues were much more blown away. While it didn’t work on me as well as it could have, it’s definitely not ostentatious; Nickel Boys is essentially about the reconstruction of traumatic memories, so it makes sense to strictly limit the available information in this fashion.
Digging Up the Dirt: So is there any chance that Elwood and/or Turner make it out of Nickel alive? Feel free to skip this paragraph if you want to go in having absolutely no idea, but if you don’t mind being teased a bit more, I will say that the glimpses of what happens decades later are both seamless and tantalizingly detached. They’re focused on a surreptitious investigation into Nickel that has the “trust no one” vibe of classic X-Files. There aren’t any aliens of cryptids, but there’s enough institutional malfeasance to make it feel unnervingly supernatural. The ideas at play in this movie won’t come as a surprise to anyone whose eyes are open, but chances are it will still leave you with a feeling you won’t be able to shake.

Nickel Boys is Recommended If You Like: Big Formal Swings

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Points of View

‘Origin’ Brings Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste’ to Vibrant Cinematic Life

January 16, 2024

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CREDIT: NEON/Screenshot

Starring: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Emily Yancy, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Blair Underwood, Donna Mills, Leonardo Nam, Connie Nielsen, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Mieke Schymura, Isha Blaaker, Myles Frost, Gaurav J. Pathania, Suraj Yengde, Nick Offerman

Director: Ava DuVernay

Running Time: 135 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Historical Discrimination

Release Date: December 8, 2023 (Awards-Qualifying Run)/January 19, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Perhaps you read the 2020 nonfiction book Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents and found yourself wondering how the author, Isabel Wilkerson, went about crafting such a book. Well, it’s your lucky day, because in the grand tradition of Adaptation, Ava DuVernay has written and directed Origin, a big-screen version that reveals the story behind the story. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Isabel, whom we’re introduced to in the buildup to Caste‘s publication. We also get to know her ailing mother Ruby (Emily Yancy), her protective husband Brett (Jon Bernthal), and her cousin Marion (Niecy Nash-Betts). Interspersed within are some stories that demonstrate Isabel’s theory about how American racism is a classic example of social stratification seen throughout human history.

What Made an Impression?: Hung Up in Jargon: Since it is the story of a writer’s life, I was a little worried that Origin would be a little too talky for its own good. And for the first third or so, my fears were well-founded. As Isabel has polite debates with her editor and fellow cocktail party attendees, I realized why these conversations are not usually considered especially cinematic. These moments might be interesting to literature grad students, but for the rest of the population, they could come off a little dull and impenetrable.
Compelling Turning Point: Fortunately the rest of the movie does not maintain that overly literary veneer. And there’s one crucial scene that spells out a change in priorities. Isabel and Marion are hanging out together at a family cookout while Isabel explains the premise of her new book. Marion is initially bewildered by her rather abstract explanation, but then Isabel gets down to brass tacks with a more concrete example of what she’s getting at. Marion then assures her that this sort of storytelling ability is exactly how she should write her book, and the movie wisely follows that cue as well.
The Points Become Salient: Isabel’s journey of writing Caste takes her to the American Deep South, Nazi Germany, and India, with historical re-enactments illustrating how each of these societies have been shaped by strikingly similar caste systems. These segments are fairly straightforward, but what pushes them over the edge are Isabel’s reactions of inspiration. Ellis-Taylor is a subtle master at quiet euphoria. (That quality also serves as a counterpoint to the deep wells of sadness she must convey.) By the end of the movie, you’ll hopefully be able to feel as hopeful as Isabel appears to be. Not because these intractable problems will be solved anytime soon, but at the very least because someone is able to identify and explain them.

Origin is Recommended If You Like: Anti-racism, Listening to people who have liberal arts degrees

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Castes