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Nickel Boys
Nickel Boys is a 2024 American historical drama film based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was directed by RaMell Ross, who wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes. Starring Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, Jimmie Fails, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, the story follows two African-American boys, Elwood (Herisse) and Turner (Wilson), who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the Dozier School for Boys, a now-closed Florida reform school notorious for its abusive treatment of students.
The film was shot from a first-person point-of-view, with filming taking place in Louisiana in late 2022. It premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on December 13, 2024. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by the American Film Institute and received numerous accolades, including the award for Best Cinematography at the 40th Independent Spirit Awards, a Best Motion Picture – Drama nomination at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and two nominations at the 97th Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. IndieWire named it the best film of the 2020s, as of 2025, and it has been cited by others as among the best of the 21st century.
In 1962 Jim Crow-era Tallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis appears destined for great things in the classroom. His Black teacher encourages him to think for himself, rejecting Southern textbooks' slanted view of history. Elwood is raised by Hattie, his doting grandmother whose father died in a prison cell under suspicious circumstances. Elwood worries that White society will retaliate against him if he participates in the growing Civil Rights Movement, which he does.
One day, Elwood is accepted into a tuition-free accelerated study program at an HBCU. While hitchhiking to campus, he is picked up by a man driving a stolen car. The police catch the man and convict Elwood of being his accomplice. Because Elwood is underage, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school.
Nickel is internally segregated; White students enjoy comfortable accommodations and personal attention from staff, while Black students are housed in shabby facilities, and the school makes little attempt to educate them. Though Spencer, the White superintendent, tells the Black students that they can be released for good behavior, in practice they cannot leave until they turn eighteen, as the school makes money hiring them out as convict labor. It is implied that some students are sexually abused.
Elwood bonds with Turner, another quiet student. While Elwood is inspired by the non-violent and democratic ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, Turner is cynical, expects only mistreatment from society, and urges Elwood to keep his head down. Elwood is bullied and beaten by another student, but the administrators do not help him: instead, they savagely beat both students. Hattie tries to visit him at Nickel but, on arrival, is prohibited from seeing him. She also scrimps and saves to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction, but the lawyer runs away with her money, devastating Elwood. Spencer bets on Nickel's annual Black-White boxing match, but quietly executes a Black student who either refused or forgot to take a dive that Spencer told him to take.
In flashforwards to 1988, the adult Elwood lives in New York City, where he runs his own moving business, and a former classmate, Chickie Pete, comes to him to remember old times and to ask him for work. Elwood does not appear to be in contact with Turner. In 2018, he is badly shaken after learning that many unmarked graves have been discovered at the old Nickel campus, and does research. Forensic evidence reveals that most of the dead students were Black.
Back in the 1960s, Elwood, fed up with his mistreatment, takes his carefully kept diary of Nickel abuses and convinces a reluctant Turner to deliver it to a government inspector as an exposé. However, nothing happens, and the administrators retaliate by torturing Elwood in the school sweatbox. Turner learns that the school plans to kill Elwood and comes to rescue him. They attempt an escape, running away together on bicycles. However, pursued by a car from Nickel, they are quickly caught. Turner escapes into the woods, but Elwood is shot and killed.
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Nickel Boys
Nickel Boys is a 2024 American historical drama film based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was directed by RaMell Ross, who wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes. Starring Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, Jimmie Fails, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, the story follows two African-American boys, Elwood (Herisse) and Turner (Wilson), who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the Dozier School for Boys, a now-closed Florida reform school notorious for its abusive treatment of students.
The film was shot from a first-person point-of-view, with filming taking place in Louisiana in late 2022. It premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios on December 13, 2024. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by the American Film Institute and received numerous accolades, including the award for Best Cinematography at the 40th Independent Spirit Awards, a Best Motion Picture – Drama nomination at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and two nominations at the 97th Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. IndieWire named it the best film of the 2020s, as of 2025, and it has been cited by others as among the best of the 21st century.
In 1962 Jim Crow-era Tallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis appears destined for great things in the classroom. His Black teacher encourages him to think for himself, rejecting Southern textbooks' slanted view of history. Elwood is raised by Hattie, his doting grandmother whose father died in a prison cell under suspicious circumstances. Elwood worries that White society will retaliate against him if he participates in the growing Civil Rights Movement, which he does.
One day, Elwood is accepted into a tuition-free accelerated study program at an HBCU. While hitchhiking to campus, he is picked up by a man driving a stolen car. The police catch the man and convict Elwood of being his accomplice. Because Elwood is underage, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school.
Nickel is internally segregated; White students enjoy comfortable accommodations and personal attention from staff, while Black students are housed in shabby facilities, and the school makes little attempt to educate them. Though Spencer, the White superintendent, tells the Black students that they can be released for good behavior, in practice they cannot leave until they turn eighteen, as the school makes money hiring them out as convict labor. It is implied that some students are sexually abused.
Elwood bonds with Turner, another quiet student. While Elwood is inspired by the non-violent and democratic ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, Turner is cynical, expects only mistreatment from society, and urges Elwood to keep his head down. Elwood is bullied and beaten by another student, but the administrators do not help him: instead, they savagely beat both students. Hattie tries to visit him at Nickel but, on arrival, is prohibited from seeing him. She also scrimps and saves to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction, but the lawyer runs away with her money, devastating Elwood. Spencer bets on Nickel's annual Black-White boxing match, but quietly executes a Black student who either refused or forgot to take a dive that Spencer told him to take.
In flashforwards to 1988, the adult Elwood lives in New York City, where he runs his own moving business, and a former classmate, Chickie Pete, comes to him to remember old times and to ask him for work. Elwood does not appear to be in contact with Turner. In 2018, he is badly shaken after learning that many unmarked graves have been discovered at the old Nickel campus, and does research. Forensic evidence reveals that most of the dead students were Black.
Back in the 1960s, Elwood, fed up with his mistreatment, takes his carefully kept diary of Nickel abuses and convinces a reluctant Turner to deliver it to a government inspector as an exposé. However, nothing happens, and the administrators retaliate by torturing Elwood in the school sweatbox. Turner learns that the school plans to kill Elwood and comes to rescue him. They attempt an escape, running away together on bicycles. However, pursued by a car from Nickel, they are quickly caught. Turner escapes into the woods, but Elwood is shot and killed.