Nickel Boys (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A powerful friendship develops between two young Black men as they navigate the harrowing trials of reform school together.

Directed by RaMell Ross. Stars Ethan Cole Sharp, Sam Malone, and Najah Bradley.

Nickel Boys follows two Black teenagers who are sent to a reform school for boys, where they bond with each other as they weather the negative treatment from the adults and figure out what their futures might look like. This feels like one of those movies that flew in, wowed everybody, and then suddenly disappeared and nobody’s talked about it for a year. The filming gimmick is that it’s told entirely from first-person point of view cinematography, switching between the two main characters as they take center stage. It definitely is an attempt to put us in the characters’ shoes, but it also calls attention to the gimmick in a way I don’t love. The story is interesting and I want to follow along with it, but oddly the camera gimmickry distanced me from it, which I’m sure is exactly the opposite of the intention. As a result, though, this one left me emotionally cold even when I appreciated pieces of the artistry.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Nickel Boys (2024)

📊 Ranked #2096/4056 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 48

lost to The Last Metro (#2024 → #1327)

beat Robots (#3038 → #3276)

beat Pacific Rim (#2530 → #2527)

beat 42nd Street (#2277 → #3089)

lost to The Beach (#2151 → #2095)

beat The Adventures of Huck Finn (#2214 → #2215)

beat BASEketball (#2182 → #3008)

beat The Room (#2166 → #2180)

beat A Hard Day's Night (#2158 → #2166)

beat Holiday Affair (#2154 → #2299)

beat Frank (#2152 → #2159)