Written by Kenza Bouhnass-Parra
Nickel Boys experiments with our place as a viewer in a way I had never seen before, RaMell Ross creating a cinematic achievement in forms of storytelling. It is a form that I cannot help but be in awe of from a technical point of view rather than thoroughly enjoy as a subject.
We follow Elwood (Ethan Herisse), a teenage boy placed in a reform school in Florida, and Turner (Brandon Wilson) who he meets there and quickly forms a close friendship with. Based on a true story, the film navigates between the daily life at school and the aftermath of its closing down.
Nickel Boys poises as a technical achievement, one of grandeur I have rarely seen. The film uses a first point of view style of shooting all the way throughout, sparsely switching between the characters. The reveal on the other side is always having us holding our breath for a slight second until the face whose voice we have become so familiar with is unveiled. With this gimmick, a special attention is particularly reserved for reflections, whether they are mirrors, bus windows, passing shops. The image sent back to the character, and by extension us, is always slightly deformed, in motion, slightly out of reach for the spectator to hold on tight to it, mirroring the precarious circumstances in which we find the characters.
As the film advances and the school’s true purpose is made clearer, so is the camera. A constant chase of cat and mouse is played between what the audience is subjected to and what is just outside the frame, blocked by the restraints of subjectivity of the point of view. This choice of storytelling places us directly in front of other characters, giving way to particularly intimate moments where the audience is personally being looked at and spoken to, throwing us in the rays of faces frowning, eyes lighting up with hope, lips quivering. The two central actors give astonishing performances, full complexities as the teenage boys discover not only their environment but also themselves through a gaze full of sensitivity. Aujanue Ellis-Taylor also deserves every praise, as she keeps us grounded into Hattie’s warmth, perfectly balancing the distress the teenagers (and the audience through the first person point of view) continuously experience.
However, for all the praise Nickel Boys receives and deserves, I found myself lost at times, trying to decipher what was shown on screen rather than let myself be transported by the story. Going into it completely blind regarding the narrative, the gimmick used to expose the story kept me confused for most of the runtime, as I had nothing familiar to attach myself to, not even the face of our main character, or an exterior position on how his interactions with others were happening. It is a complex film in how it chooses the gradually expose the behinds of the reform school. And this complexity is added another layer to by choosing this unusual perspective. I wish I had spent more time feeling immersed rather than trying to solve riddles to understand what even was being shown on screen.
Most of the times, I recommend going into a film as blind as possible. However in the instance of Nickel Boys, I would say to either be aware and prepared for the first person point of view, or to already be familiarised with the real events that went down at the reform school. If not, let yourself be transported by this wave of exquisite filmmaking as much as possible.
Nickel Boys is ambitious, alternating between one of the most subjective point of views I have seen used and archival footage, it is splendid in its shot compositions and dancing camera movements, it is complex and radical and raw. It is a cinematic experience, one that reminds me of how beautifully poignant this medium is.
Comments
Post a Comment