This is a movie about powerlessness in the face of unjust institutional forces. An issue that plagues the United States, and much of the world.

The story takes place in Tallahassee, Florida, during the 1960s. This is a time when the institutional racism associated with the Jim Crow laws still prevailed. The bigotry is played out in all its gut-wrenching unfairness, through the lived-in experience of a young African American Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), who is wrongfully incarcerated. Audiences get the literal lived-in experience. Based on the eponymous novel by Colson Whitehead, director RaMell Ross uses the point-of-view of his protagonist throughout, with events unveiled through continuous close-ups sequenced in a hypnotically rhythmic fashion. These devices are conducive to an exceedingly immersive viewing experience. Moss first deployed this filming style in his debut Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018).

It takes a minute to decipher we are seeing the world through the perspective of the protagonist, as his bustling childhood feverishly unfolds before us. A mosaic of moving imagery portraying the wonderment of adolescence, where scenes of school and home life are interwoven with TV news bulletins of Martin Luther King and Apollo space missions. We get a visceral sense of time and place when segregation was rampant and yet there are glimmers of hope and possibility. He lives with his lovingly animated grandmother (an incredible performance by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). He is clever, and so his English teacher encourages him to attend a scholarship programme in a nearby college. Hitching a ride on his very first day in a stolen car, he sees these dreams and aspirations come crushing. The driver is stopped by the police and an innocent Elwood is identified as an accomplice. He is sent to a segregated reform school called the Nickel Academy.

In juvie, abuse is ubiquitous. The school, the corrupt administrators and and the inmates themselves are perpertrators. For Elwood, who led a sheltered life within his social pocket, this is a shock to the system. A form of respite eventually comes in his kinship with Turner (Brand Wilson). It’s at this precise moment the point-of-view subtly shifts to Turner, and their introduction is replayed in Turner’s perspective. The two optically distinct world views which influence intentions and motivations are cleverly played out in an environment so hostile, where inmates are constantly watching their backs. The switch is an effective trick, touching upon on themes of differing perspectives. The same reality is perceived differently. Horror is in the eye of the beholder.

The attention is still much on Elwood. Turner’s gaze is as much useful in portraying their close, often antagonistic. Scenes are of Elwood at various stages of adulthood (played by Daveed Diggs) throughout the decades are interjected. If slightly discombobulating, these moments share the same frenzied sensation of the first-person perspective but lack the vibrancy and colour. Featuring low-lighting and filmed in contained spaces, Elwood’s adult life appears darker, sombre, and more cerebral, in line with a permanent cognitive state that is scarred by childhood trauma.

Ross’ directorial choices in Hale County This Morning, This Evening appeared to be influenced by his trade as a photographer, and by his ability to seize stillness in his subjects’ hurried existence. This is a trait which effortlessly lends itself to the documentary format. It affectionately captures the essence and beauty of the lives for everyday African American folk living in a conservative southern state. There was a pulsating sense of positivity. These emotive qualities are shared in Nickel Boys and are equally, if not more, arresting and affecting.

Yet for all its beauty and poignancy, not everywhere works here. The constant point-of-view shifts prove intermittently distracting. And they temper the sensations of the horror and trauma.

Nickel Boys premiered at the 68th BFI London Film Festival 2024. It is out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 8th. In cinemas on Friday, January 3rd (2025).