--- title: "Nickel Boys" year: 2024 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/nickel-boys" fi1m_id: "nickel-boys" imdb_id: "tt23055660" tmdb_id: 1028196 wikidata_id: "Q116030637" fi1m_score: 85 critics_score: 89 critics_reviews: 19 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-10-06T12:12:31.098115+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Nickel Boys (2024) Directed by RaMell Ross · 2h 20m · MPA PG-13 · Drama, History ## Identity Nickel Boys - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/nickel-boys - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** nickel-boys - **IMDb ID:** tt23055660 - **TMDB ID:** 1028196 - **Wikidata ID:** Q116030637 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23055660/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1028196, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116030637 **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 89 from 19 reviews *In a sentence:* Florida from inside a boy’s head: orange peel, sky, a stolen car, and a grandmother coming in to hug the camera > RaMell Ross films Colson Whitehead’s novel about a Florida reform school entirely through the eyes of its two boys, and the gamble mostly pays. It is tender where it could have been brutal, exactly made, long, and a little in love with its own method. ## Synopsis Elwood is a serious teenager in Tallahassee, raised by his grandmother Hattie, who plays him Martin Luther King records until he knows them by heart. A teacher, Mr Hill, finds him a place in college classes across town. On his way there he accepts a lift in a car that turns out to be stolen, and the state of Florida sends him to Nickel Academy, a reform school where the Black boys are worked, beaten and sometimes not seen again. There he meets Turner, who has been inside before and knows how the place runs. RaMell Ross films Colson Whitehead’s novel from behind the boys’ own eyes, with Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. ## Review Elwood is a serious boy in Tallahassee, raised by his grandmother Hattie, who plays a Martin Luther King record until he knows it by heart. A teacher, Mr Hill, gets him a place in college classes across town. On the way there he takes a lift in a car that turns out to be stolen, and the state of Florida sends him to Nickel Academy, a reform school where the Black boys are worked, beaten and occasionally not seen again. RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes have adapted Colson Whitehead’s novel, and their one big decision is that we watch it from behind Elwood’s eyes, and later from behind those of Turner, the friend he makes inside. Our verdict is that the gamble comes off more often than not, and when it does the film is as close as we have come to sitting inside someone else’s memory. It is also 140 minutes long and rather pleased with itself. Jomo Fray keeps the camera at the height of a teenager’s head. When Elwood looks down we see his hands, his shoes, an orange being peeled; when someone speaks to him they speak straight into the lens from a foot away, and we cannot look anywhere else. Early on, Hattie comes towards us across a room for a hug, and the screen fills with the shoulder of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s dress and goes dark. We were caught off guard by how much that undid us. Ross has found a way to give an audience something cinema has never managed, which is being held. The performances have to work without faces for long stretches, and mostly they do. Ethan Herisse plays Elwood as a voice and a way of standing: careful, upright, still sure the rules will protect him if he follows them. Brandon Wilson’s Turner knows better, and when the film first switches to his eyes we see Elwood properly for the first time, across a canteen table, and are startled at how young he is. Ellis-Taylor has one long scene of talking to a boy who is not answering, and it is the best acting in the film. Hamish Linklater’s Spencer, who runs the place, never raises his voice, which is worse. Nicholas Monsour cuts in things Elwood could not have seen: rocket launches, an alligator, an old Hollywood film playing on a shop-window television that reflects the boy watching it. It ought to be pretentious and mostly is not; these are the pictures a mind keeps alongside its own. Alex Somers and Scott Alario score it with hums and held notes that sit under the Florida heat. Nora Mendis builds Nickel as low white buildings and a lawn, with one shed the boys call the White House and do not go near. Brittany Loar’s work shirts are slightly too big, as institutional clothes are. The method has costs. Whenever a character explains something to the lens, the film tips into the manner of an interview, and we became aware of an actor being asked to hold a look longer than a person would. The middle hour circles: work detail, dormitory, a boxing match, work detail. And because the camera is always one boy or the other, Herisse and Wilson are almost never in a frame together, so the friendship the film rests on has to be taken partly on trust. Ross’s previous film, *Hale County This Morning, This Evening* (2018), was a documentary that watched Black lives in Alabama with the same patience and the same refusal to point at the obvious thing. This is that eye given a story to tell. The reviews so far are close to unanimous and several have reached for the largest words available. We stop a little short of them. It is an unusually good film with a method it trusts slightly more than we do. See it in a cinema; at home the frame shrinks and the trick of being someone else shrinks with it. The 12A is honest. The violence happens off screen or behind a door, which is how Elwood experiences it and how the film insists we do too. Take someone whose hand you would not mind holding. *Fi1m score 85, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews agree to an unusual degree, and they agree about one thing above all: the decision to shoot the film in the first person, so that the camera is the boys and we see the reform school through their eyes. Almost every critic treats that choice as the film’s achievement, praising it for putting the viewer inside the experience without turning the abuse into spectacle, and several credit the use of archival footage and flash-forwards alongside it. Where performances are mentioned, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s is the one singled out. The spread is narrow; the great majority score it highly, with only a few reservations at the edges. Deadline finds the point-of-view camerawork repetitive and the film overlong, more Malick than Whitehead, and The Playlist thinks the technique creates distance as the film goes on. NME notes some meandering while still recommending it. Those are the only real dissents, and even they praise the risk taken. ## Straight answers **Is Nickel Boys worth watching?** *Nickel Boys* is worth watching, and we scored it 85, for anyone prepared to spend 140 minutes looking out through a teenager's eyes rather than at his face. RaMell Ross films Colson Whitehead's novel from behind its two boys, and the method mostly comes off, though the middle hour circles and the film is a little pleased with itself. See it in a cinema if you can. **How long is Nickel Boys, and what is it rated?** *Nickel Boys* runs 2h 20m and is rated PG-13 by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and history film. **Where can I watch Nickel Boys in the US?** *Nickel Boys* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and MUBI in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Nickel Boys, and is it suitable for children?** *Nickel Boys* is a 12A about a Florida reform school where Black boys are worked, beaten and sometimes not seen again, but the violence happens off screen or behind a door, and we think the certificate is honest. It is upsetting rather than frightening, and too slow and adult for younger children. Older teenagers who can sit with a patient film should manage it. **How does Nickel Boys compare to Son of Saul?** *Nickel Boys* and [*Son of Saul*](https://film.one/film/son-of-saul) both keep the camera glued to one person and refuse to show what he does not see, but the Florida film is the gentler of the two, tender where the Hungarian one is harrowing and exhausting. *Son of Saul* holds a tighter grip; *Nickel Boys* has more air and more warmth. Choose the first if you want to be shaken, the second if you want to be held. **What should I watch after Nickel Boys?** After *Nickel Boys*, try [*Son of Saul*](https://film.one/film/son-of-saul) (2015, Fi1m 87): Another camera glued to one man’s shoulder, refusing to show what it will not. Then [*Killer of Sheep*](https://film.one/film/killer-of-sheep) (1978, Fi1m 90): Black American life in small unhurried moments, shot for almost nothing and unforgettable. ### Reviews we read (26) - **Little White Lies**, Sam Bodrojan (5/5/5): The critic hails the film as a miracle and masterpiece, the defining American film of the 2020s and 2024's most harrowing and transcendent work. It singles out the first-person POV cinematography and intuitive avant-garde imagery that make the adaptation both formally rigorous and emotionally accessible. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/nickel-boys) - **Radio Times**, Patrick Cremona (5/5): The review describes an audacious adaptation that is an original work of heart-wrenching power. It singles out the unique point-of-view visual approach that creates a tactile, profoundly immersive experience with innovative use of archival footage and flash-forwards. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-cwzuuc/nickel-boys/) - **Time Out**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (5/5): The review calls it a soulful, heartbreaking masterpiece that changes how viewers think about image construction. It singles out the first-person POV shooting and loving eye that leads with sensitivity despite the devastating story of racist injustice. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/nickel-boys-review-2024) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (95/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as a glorious exception that renders the novel innovatively yet faithfully, achieving an advance in narrative form through its daring point-of-view technique that fuses observation and sensation. He singles out the expressive first-person perspective that registers the cause of characters' emotions and gives cinematic form to the bearing of witness. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/16/nickel-boys-movie-review) - **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (90/100, inferred): Ross's visionary first-person adaptation injects radical new life into the novel, creating a staggeringly beautiful story of resilience through its immersive subjective camera work. The film blends narrative and documentary sensibilities to challenge conventional cinema while honoring the characters' experiences. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/nickel-boys-movie-review-1235042661/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Amy Nicholson (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a priceless paean to the lives of victimized reform-school kids, praising how Ross turns the characters into the camera so the audience sees the world literally through their eyes and celebrates their humanity. She singles out the soul-stirring visuals, the epic banal of small moments shot with grandeur, and a mesmerizing montage, while noting minor issues with dialogue delivery. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-12-20/review-nickel-boys-ramell-ross-daveed-diggs-aunjanue-ellis-taylor) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic calls RaMell Ross’s adaptation transcendentally moving and frightening, praising its first-person point-of-view cinematography that creates immersive subjectivity and the way it balances horror with moments of humanity and hope. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/28/nickel-boys-review-intensely-moving-story-of-surviving-a-racist-reform-school) - **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): Ross fuses the impressionistic sensibility of his previous work with a subjective camera approach to create an organic, immersive, and essential cinematic experience. The film refuses conventional pathos in favor of a truer, more complex and powerful engagement with its characters' suffering. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-nickel-boys-is-an-experience-unlike-any-other.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Kenji Fujishima (85/100, inferred): Ross fashions mesmerizing, affecting poetry out of Whitehead's prose through intensely subjective first-person point-of-view shots and imaginative use of archival footage. The film's formally adventurous technique honors the source material while creating a universal tale with personal and historical resonance. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/nickel-boys-review-ramell-ross/) - **The Times** (85/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a shatteringly powerful movie about abuse, highlighting its audacious first-person POV technique that puts the viewer inside the protagonists’ experiences at the brutal reform school. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/nickel-boys-review-movie-57vsq8827) - **The AV Club**, Tomris Laffly (B+): Ross ventures into fiction with a poetic and visionary adaptation that finds its resilient spirit in intimate details and first-person perspectives. The film extends the director's documentary approach to create a defiantly unconventional art film that challenges notions of cinema. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/nickel-boys-review) - **Empire**, Kambole Campbell: The critic calls Nickel Boys a triumph for its unorthodox first-person POV approach that brings a new dimension to the source material. They single out the revolutionary cinematography for empathetically framing the horrors of the Jim Crow era as observed by its victims. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/nickel-boys/) - **Evening Standard**, Nick Howells: The critic hails Nickel Boys as potentially the film of the year for its staggering and astonishing qualities. They single out the mesmerising, unfamiliar camerawork and point-of-view technique that puts the Black experience front and centre. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/nickel-boys-review-ramell-ross-b1201754.html) - **Screen Daily**: The review deems it a rare work of artistic daring destined for wide acclaim, with tenderness at its core that delivers the emotional blow amid societal evil. It singles out the bold experiment in sound, fractured visuals and strict POV rules that make the film intensely personal. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/nickel-boys-review/5197511.article) - **Sight and Sound**: The review praises Ross's radically inventive second feature for its lyrical adaptation that locks the audience into the characters' literal point of view. It singles out the sensory, supremely beautiful imagery and form that prioritises emotional and political identification over observation. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/nickel-boys-ramell-ross-radically-inventive-second-feature) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Lovia Gyarkye: Ross's arresting narrative debut turns Whitehead's novel into a deeply personal vision of Black boyhood and community amid the horrors of a reform school. The film's intimate subjective point of view and attention to everyday details create an overwhelming sense of lived experience and risk that pays off. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/nickel-boys-review-ramell-ross-1235988553/) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (Critic’s Pick): The critic praises the film's visually inventive and boldly expressionistic adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel, highlighting its focus on two boys at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. She singles out the way Ross uses moments, images, and a soft beautiful light to cradle the characters while staying true to the source with his own narrative and visual style. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/movies/nickel-boys-review.html) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (10/10): The critic hails it as a breathtaking, unique film unlike any other, praising its distinct cinematic language that feels like actual memory. They single out the stunning final shot and the physical reaction it elicits. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1735149/nickel-boys-review/) - **The Skinny**, Carmen Paddock (5/5): Ross's confident directorial debut adapts the novel with innovative first-person POV that explores themes of dehumanization and trauma through surreal and sensory elements, delivering a haunting tribute with strong performances, particularly from Ellis-Taylor. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/nickel-boys) - **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (9/10): The critic praises RaMell Ross's adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel as one of the best films of 2024 for its brilliant first-person perspective that immerses viewers in the boys' experiences. The innovative cinematic technique is highlighted as a standout achievement that elevates the storytelling. [Read](https://collider.com/nickel-boys-movie-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Joe George (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Ross's innovative first-person POV technique that immerses viewers in the characters' experiences of racial injustice and trauma at the reform school, making it a profound addition to cinematic language while emphasizing human emotion over gimmickry. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/nickel-boys-a-masterpiece-change-how-we-watch-movies/) - **Paste**, Jesse Hassenger (8.4/10): The review commends the film's immersive point-of-view style as a unique and effective way to convey subjectivity and empathy without turning suffering into spectacle. It notes the experimental approach creates indelible images and a close approximation of literary perspective. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/ramell-ross/nickel-boys-movie-review-point-of-view-ethan-herisse-brandon-wilson-hamish-linklater) - **NME**, Hollie Geraghty (80/100, inferred): The film uses first-person perspective to immerse viewers in the boys' experiences, subverting expectations of violent depictions by focusing on sensory details and humanity, resulting in a visually stunning portrayal of segregation and injustice despite some meandering narrative. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/nickel-boys-review-ethan-herisse-brandon-wilson-ramell-ross-3842016) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic praises RaMell Ross's unique cinematic sensibility for delivering a sensory, gut-wrenching take on the story of injustice that avoids typical trauma porn tropes. They single out the strong performances, particularly Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor's moving monologue, calling the film a hard yet necessary watch. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-nickel-boys-review-colson-whitehead-ramell-ross/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (55/100, inferred): The critic views the film as a flawed but artistic adaptation that feels more like a Terrence Malick work than a faithful Colson Whitehead one, with repetitive POV camerawork that can distract from the story. They praise the important subject matter, strong performances, and the risks taken while noting it as overlong. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/08/nickel-boys-review-film-version-colson-whiteheads-acclaimed-novel-is-flawed-but-artistic-journey-to-hell-and-back-telluride-film-festival-1236074998/) - **The Playlist**, Gregory Ellwood (B-/C+): The review finds the first-person perspective creates visual brilliance and intimacy early on but ultimately diminishes the proceedings and creates distance. It singles out the innovative framing for praise while noting it overpowers the intent. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/nickel-boys-review-ramell-ross-frames-his-adaptation-of-colson-whiteheads-novel-from-a-singulair-perspective-telluride-20240904/) ## Details - **Director:** RaMell Ross - **Director:** RaMell Ross - **Screenplay:** RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes - **Cinematography:** Jomo Fray - **Editor:** Nicholas Monsour - **Music:** Scott Alario, Alex Somers - **Production design:** Nora Mendis - **Costume design:** Brittany Loar - **Producer:** Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner - **Cast:** Ethan Herisse as Elwood; Brandon Wilson as Turner; Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Hattie; Hamish Linklater as Spencer; Gralen Bryant Banks as Blakeley; Fred Hechinger as Harper; Jimmie Fails as Mr. Hill; Luke Tennie as Griff - **Runtime:** 2h 20m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 13 December 2024 - **Genres:** Drama, History - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2024); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 2024) - **Budget:** $23 million - **Box office:** $3 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HZKgYknVN0 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming, uhd - MUBI: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-10.* Also available in: CA, FR, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2025: Best Picture (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Hale County This Morning, This Evening* (2018): Ross’s documentary, where this way of looking was worked out on real people first. - *Son of Saul* (2015), Fi1m 87: Another camera glued to one man’s shoulder, refusing to show what it will not. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/son-of-saul.md) - *Lady in the Lake* (1947): Hollywood tried the first-person camera decades ago; instructive to see how badly. - *Scum* (1979): The British borstal film: blunter, angrier, and just as sure who is to blame. - *Killer of Sheep* (1978), Fi1m 90: Black American life in small unhurried moments, shot for almost nothing and unforgettable. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/killer-of-sheep.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/nickel-boys