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Anonymous Content
Louverture Films
Orion Pictures
Plan B Entertainment
Not part of a collection.
Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.
badelf
Nov 8, 2025 · via TMDB
This film does not work for me. Is it a good story? Yes. Is it a story that has to be told? Absolutely. Is it story that should be filmed in a pseudo-Andy-Warhol-warehouse "art" style? Fercrissake, no!! In my world, the visual should serve the story, not the director. I'm old and cranky and have seen way too much excellent cinema from all over the world, therefore, 5/10, IMHO, YMMV.
r96sk
Mar 2, 2025 · via TMDB
<em>'Nickel Boys'</em> is too slow paced and overly stylistic for my personal liking, but there is no doubting it has quality. I can understand the praise it has received, it's just not overly for me. A good film it still is, I don't have any major negatives despite the mild cons noted above. The performances of Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson are strong enough, admittedly I didn't really find much to connect with them aside from their predicament. The forced perspective that the movie is portrayed via doesn't help with that, as interesting a concept as it is. How I view it solely as a film doesn't really matter anyway, because it is good to see this get so much attention - if only to shed light on the harrowing reform school that the story is based upon. It's disturbing how many of those sorta places exist/ed around the world. Awful.
CinemaSerf
Feb 5, 2025 · via TMDB
There are two really engaging performances on offer here as Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson deliver a powerful indictment of a Florida school for boys. Induced there with promises of innovative educational practices and no exorbitant fees, these lads arrive to discover that what they are attending is little better than a prison. Governed by brutality, starvation and violence, the boys have to conform to the demands of their boss “Spencer” (Hamish Linklater) or else life won’t be for the living. It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t just a school for black kids, all shapes and sizes are used and abused here and even if the authorities do decide to make a rudimentary visit, nobody ever dares to step out of line. It’s told using a combination of timelines, so there’s not so much actual jeopardy for the two characters, but what we do see is just how each struggled to come to terms with their predicament in different ways, yet always managing to provide support for the other. As we build to the conclusion, the true extent of the horrors inflicted on these students becomes more appreciable and the production starts to mingle the drama with real-life photography, statistics and more abstract imagery that proves intangibly effective at illustrating just how messed up people could be after a childhood/youth spent in fear. It takes it’s time which at times can prove frustrating, but in the end I reckon RaMell Ross manages to pick his way through this emotional minefield carefully and poignantly and it’s a tough, but worthwhile, watch.
Brent Marchant
Jan 9, 2025 · via TMDB
The artistic choices a director makes while working on a film often contribute much to the success or failure of the finished project. When these decisions aptly suit the nature of the production, they can transform a commendable picture into a cinematic masterpiece. But, when they fail at this, they can unduly get in the way, and such is the case with this debut narrative feature from writer-director RaMell Ross. Based on the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, the film tells the story of two young Black men, Ellwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who reside at the Nickel Academy, a fictional Florida reform school based on the infamous Dozier School for Boys, an institution known for its notoriously abusive treatment. Set in the 1960s against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, “Nickel Boys” depicts the horrendous atrocities inflicted upon the two friends and other “academy” residents, brutality that included acts of physical and sexual abuse, as well as the mysterious “disappearances” of those who fail to abide by the facility’s strict rules. This is obviously an important and troubling story, one that desperately needs to be told. But, despite the picture’s fictional treatment of a fact-based tale, the impact of the story is severely diluted in this anemic screen adaptation, primarily due to the filmmaker’s attempt at wrongheadedly trying to turn it into some kind of cinematic art project. Much like the director’s inexplicably Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” (2018), this release is seriously burdened by an array of unsuitable cinematography choices, some of which are employed unevenly, some of which add nothing particularly meaningful and others that are just plain odd. When combined with the picture’s poorly penned screenplay – one rife with redundant, predictable sequences and tediously dull dialogue that tries to pass itself off as more profound than it genuinely is – viewers are left with an overlong, lackluster narrative that significantly waters down the relevance of the events being chronicled here and that could have easily pruned about 30 minutes from its excessive 2:20:00 runtime. In fact, were it not for the fine performance of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Ellwood’s loving grandmother, there’s not much else worth watching in this exercise of style over substance. Indeed, how this offering has managed to capture the attention of the critics’ community is truly beyond me. An incensing tale like this deserves much better than what’s on offer in this disappointing slog, yet another of 2024’s disappointing celluloid failures.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Ethan Herisse
Elwood
Brandon Wilson
Turner
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Hattie
Hamish Linklater
Spencer
Gralen Bryant Banks
Blakeley
Fred Hechinger
Harper
Jimmie Fails
Mr. Hill
Luke Tennie
Griff
Bryan Gael Guzman
Jaime
Sam Malone
Percy
Najah Bradley
Evelyn
Peter Gabb
Mr. Marconi
Taraja Ramsess
Rodney
Zach Primo
White Boy
Bryant Tardy
Desmond
Robert Aberdeen
Mr. Goodall
Escalante Lundy
Earl
Noah Craig
Young Boy at Dining Hall
Ja'Quan Monroe-Henderson
Black Mike
Mike Harkins
Butcher
Daveed Diggs
Adult Elwood
Rachel Whitman Groves
Nurse Scarlet
Billy Slaughter
Dr. Cooke
Lucy Faust
Mrs. Hardee
Tanyell Waivers
Denise
Craig Tate
Adult Chickie Pete
Sara Osi Scott
Millie
LeBaron Foster Thornton
Larry (uncredited)
Ellison Booker
Older Guy (Protest)
Alexander Bello
Boy (voice)
Teddy Blanks
Title Designer
RaMell Ross
Camera Operator
Jomo Fray
Director of Photography
Andy Dylan
Stunt Coordinator
Eric Stratemeier
Stunt Coordinator
Tim Bell
Stunt Coordinator
Jeff Brockton
Stunts
Jeff Chase
Stunts
Kenny Bartram
Stunts
Matt Cipro
Stunts
Tyler Galpin
Stunts
RaMell Ross
Director
Nicholas Monsour
Editor
Victoria Thomas
Casting
Brad Pitt
Executive Producer
Colson Whitehead
Executive Producer
Emily Wolfe
Executive Producer
Dede Gardner
Producer
Jeremy Kleiner
Producer
Joslyn Barnes
Producer
Leslie Bloome
Foley Artist
Ryan Collison
Foley Mixer
Gabe Hilfer
Music Supervisor
Alex Somers
Original Music Composer
Thurman Martin III
Visual Effects Producer
Colson Whitehead
Book
Joslyn Barnes
Screenplay
RaMell Ross
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Bicara Cinta
2020
The Pied Pipers of Harlow
1965
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
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