New movie nickel guyopens the New York Film Festival on September 27 after its Telluride debut, is an adaptation of Colson whiteheadsof the Pultizer Award-winning novel, a fictional account of a real-life reform school in the Florida panhandle where its staff, for decades, abused and in some cases murdered harmed the accusers – especially the black boys sent there ostensibly for re-education. It’s a sad, damning subject, of the sort that might deserve an extensive cinematic treatment.
But director RaMell Rossphotographer-turned-documentary filmmaker who is now making his first scripted feature film, takes a completely different strategy in approaching this massive document. His films are primarily shot in first-person perspective; as an unfortunate teenager, Elwood (Ethan Herisse), finds himself dragged into this swamp hell, we watch what happens through his eyes. Peripheral vision is limited. Ross delves into the heart of a helpless tragedy in a narrow setting; We understand the forces at work on Elwood, but we rarely see them fully.
nickel guy is the most formally innovative of its fall season brethren, a bold foray of a literary adaptation that mostly earns its gimmick. Although really, gimmick is a cheap word for what Ross is doing. The nervous technical conceit of nickel guy has an instructional purpose; it is more than just “let’s see what I can do”. Ross designed his film as a deep dive into the visceral reality of racism in America, with no external vistas offering even a hint of a way out.
It’s a difficult, purposeful film. But Ross brings a charming, comfortable, normal beauty. The film’s opening sequence shows us Elwood’s pre-incarceration life in all its precarious potential: he was a promising student, loved by the grandmother who raised him (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), in puppy love with a girlfriend, embracing the blissful wonder of a future rushing toward him. It was the mid-1960s in Florida and Elwood was a young black man, so he certainly faced difficult obstacles. But he, with both passion and principled wisdom, decided to stand on the front lines of a struggle he shared with so many. This is an enthusiastic, determined child, a portrait crafted in sparkling mosaic.
However, even if Elwood took a less noble path, that would not justify the harsh punishment he received when he accidentally hitchhiked in a stolen car, being caught by the police and was taken to Nickel Academy. Ross is careful to emphasize that no child, of any background, deserves to be dehumanized on such a regular basis. But yes: we especially mourn the future stolen from Elwood, who followed all the rules and was nevertheless subjected to brutal enslavement. nickel guy is a clear reflection of our country’s terrible record; Even after emancipation, black men frequently found themselves drawn into a type of slavery that was different in name only.
Ross has made a busy cut of a film, switching between evocative imagery and plot with a rapidity that at times leaves the audience on edge. We are not really forced to sit in any particular experience—whether pleasure or confinement—long enough for it to fully sink in. Ross’s stammering poetry is considered more than simply stylish, but not quite as emotionally encompassing as more traditional stories might be.
Ross is not strict with his central equipment. The film occasionally breaks away from Elwood’s gaze to show us that of his fellow prisoner Turner (it’s worth noting that Brandon Wilson), a more rebellious free spirit than his quiet and shy friend. Taken together, Elwood and Turner’s perspectives create an intimate picture of cautious and cautious optimism. Liberation must be possible but cannot be assumed.
The details of Elwood and Turner’s hardships are sometimes confronted head-on. However, more often than not, they are only hinted at. Ross insightfully and astutely shows how such a nightmare should be handled, especially by someone so young and naive as Elwood. Danger is near, but life must follow. Perhaps only with hindsight can one truly understand the scope of what happened — to Elwood, to everyone —. Ross gives way to that memory, drifting into the future (taken from behind the actor Daveed Diggs‘s head) to show what adulthood looks like for men struggling to regain the humanity that was snatched away as teenagers.
nickel guy ends in a rush: a series of flashes of feeling that ultimately serve as the heartbreaking denouement. One wonders what it would be like if Ross presented things more linearly, if he took the time to really drill down into specific moments, to dig into the nuances of everyday life. by Elwood and Turner.
Still, Ross’s thorough and elegant recreation of time and place is effective. And anyway, is witnessing the obvious trauma really worth more than what Ross chooses to show us? nickel guy perhaps a rebuke to the idea that violence must be stated explicitly in order to be understood. Here, it is clearly present in every negative space. Instead, what Ross gives these young men is the dignity of a point of view, drawing the viewer into an immediate state of mental and physical intimacy. nickel guy is an arduous—and also humane and loving—journey in someone else’s shoes. It is an integration into two lives that evoke the history of countless other lives.
