2 young Black men become friends at the Nickel Academy, a brutal Florida reform school in the 1960s. The school's violence slowly destroys one boy's future and changes the other's forever. This is RaMell Ross's first fiction film. He shoots it through the boys' own eyes, which is a radical choice, so you see what they see as they are being destroyed.
Nickel Boys is a 2024 drama and history film directed by RaMell Ross. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography, 1 narrative and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, American History X uses several of the same techniques.
Placing the camera where a character's eyes are, or shooting the scene the way that character experiences it. You see and feel things from inside their head.
How this film uses it
Ross shoots almost the whole film in first person, with the camera acting as the eyes of Elwood and Turner. You are physically placed where the boys are. I feel like that turns a historical atrocity into something you experience yourself.
Where to see it
The arrival at Nickel Academy, seen through Elwood's eyes. You take in the size and menace of the place the way the boy would. You share his first fearful look around.
Shooting the past in black and white and the present in color. You always know which time you are in, and the past feels distant, like old archive footage.
How this film uses it
Ross cuts away from the first-person, present-tense footage to found photographs, archival images and fragments of memory in black and white. The black-and-white frames make the events look like historical record. The first-person camera keeps them feeling like they are happening right now.
Where to see it
The real photographs of reform school survivors woven into the story. The faces from the archive run up against the first-person views of the fictional boys.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Ross films the friendship between Elwood and Turner with the visual patience he is known for. The bond builds through shared glances, physical closeness and the small give and take of living in a confined space. There is very little dialogue explaining it.
Where to see it
Elwood and Turner in their dormitory bunk. The camera watches from Elwood's point of view as Turner speaks. The angle is so close that you feel the tenderness of the friendship.
Holding the camera on violence for much longer than is comfortable, with no cut to let you look away. Most films only show a quick glimpse.
How this film uses it
The punishment scenes at Nickel Academy stay mostly in the boys' point of view. The film cuts away only to archival photographs of real boys. The boys can't look away from what is happening to them, and neither can you.
Where to see it
The White House punishment sequence. It is filmed mostly through the eyes of the boy being beaten. It goes on so long that you can't treat the violence as a spectacle.
Questions
Nickel Boys: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Nickel Boys use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Nickel Boys (2024): Subjective Camera, Black-and-White Flashback Grammar, Observational Restraint and Sustained Atrocity Duration.
Who directed Nickel Boys?
RaMell Ross directed Nickel Boys, released in 2024.
What films are similar to Nickel Boys?
Films that share techniques with Nickel Boys include American History X (1998), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), The Pianist (2002), Come and See (1985).
