In the early 1960s, a young man is sentenced to serve time in abusive reform school following his riding in a car he didn’t know was stolen. Once his sentence begins, he finds himself the victim of many of these abuses, forming a close bond with another boy there under similar circumstances as they face the rigors of the reform school together. The movie is told mostly from the first-person perspective of these young men.
NICKEL BOYS is a film chronicling a (fictionalized) depiction of abuse in a reform school in a time where civil rights were not yet fully won, and many African-American folks continued to endure abuse and hardships. The premise of the film certainly intrigued me, knowing not only what it was about, but that there would be a unique first-person perspective cinematography technique employed. The film certainly hits the emotional beats, and the gimmick works surprisingly well. Unfortunately, other aspects of the film fall flat, namely an overlong running time and the movie’s needlessly continued insistence on making its point.
Where NICKEL BOYS deserves credit is its cast, not to mention its ability to take an audience back in time. These are excellent young actors that truly embody these roles, and we can certainly feel for them in their plight. Utilizing first-person perspective cinematography, while seeming like something of a gimmick at first glance, actually works to the movie’s strengths. We don’t always see them on camera, yet there’s still an emotional impact at hand, and a solid supporting cast of actors and actresses portraying abusers and allies equally well.
Sadly, the film falls flat in nearly every other era. There’s a needless non-chronological narrative employed throughout the movie (what’s the obsession with this that so many filmmakers have now?) Scenes featuring an adult Elwood (portrayed by Daveed Diggs) feel unnecessary, out of place, and slow down an already slow narrative. The biggest problem with NICKEL BOYS is the movie never knows when to stop making its point. The movie is an overlong 140 minutes but could’ve been stronger at 100 minutes. Instead, we get something that’s far too long in length, with unnecessary overuse of stock footage and other elements of the period that’ve been utilized far better and more effectively and efficiently in other films. With a better editor and tighter pacing, this could’ve been one of the best films of 2024. As is, I can’t even quite recommend it.
I wanted to love NICKEL BOYS. There are things about this movie that are fantastic, including the cast, the cinematography, and the world building. But pacing is everything in films, and NICKEL BOYS’ needlessly long pandering past the 100-minute mark does it no favors. Worth a watch for the curious, but not something I can recommend to most audiences despite what strengths it has.