140 mins |
Rated
PG-13 (for thematic material involving racism, some strong language including racial slurs, violent content and smoking. #)
Directed by RaMell Ross
Starring Hamish Linklater, Aunjanue Ellis, Daveed Diggs, Fred Hechinger, Robert Aberdeen, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson
Best Picture Nominee - 97th Academy Awards
RaMell Ross's astonishing adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel about two Black teenagers at an abusive 1960s Florida reform school, combines riveting performances with a sincere, searching experimentalism in order to animate and confront memories of America's Jim Crow past. - Vadim Rizov, Filmmaker Magazine
Elwood Curtis’s college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King’s burnished oratory. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.
Further Reading:
Based on the novel "Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead
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Best Picture Nominee - 97th Academy Awards
RaMell Ross's astonishing adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel about two Black teenagers at an abusive 1960s Florida reform school, combines riveting performances with a sincere, searching experimentalism in order to animate and confront memories of America's Jim Crow past. - Vadim Rizov, Filmmaker Magazine
Elwood Curtis’s college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King’s burnished oratory. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.
Further Reading:
Based on the novel "Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead
