Perspective, aka whose story is being told, is one of the basic entries to engaging with narrative. In film, the perspective is often that of your protagonist. But perspective is really just the telling of the story. Cobra Kai became an effective series because its strength was in shifting perspective from the original films by focusing on how the “villains” in those films, particularly Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid (1984), viewed the events. Nickel Boys, with a script from Joslyn Barnes and RaMell Ross, directed by Ross and based on the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, puts perspective at the forefront with most of the story being told through the eyes of the duel protagonists, Elwood (played by Ethan Herisse) and Turner (played by Brandon Wilson). Even though story is always viewed through the perspective of a character, it is rare to view it through a character’s eyes for the extent Nickel Boys utilizes. This style and the 1.33:1 aspect ratio could distract the audience from the story to focus on the craft. Still, while I was obviously aware of them, they drew me further into the story. I think it is because the idea of who tells the story – aka perspective – is rooted in the film from top to bottom, so utilizing a filmic tool to spotlight it only helped.
While the Nickel Academy in the film and novel it is based on is fictional, it is inspired by a real reform school (Dozier School for Boys). It was a place (both in the film and its real-life inspiration) that ran for a long time, with its bad treatment of the children put into its care overlooked/dismissed for years until it eventually came to the public eye. If you are wondering why it took so long, although the film doesn’t explicitly state why, it makes it clear, from why Elwood ends up at the Nickel Academy to how they decide where to place a young boy who isn’t Black but also isn’t white. It’s racism. It’s why perspective works for telling these stories that had previously been swept under the rug, dismissed, or ignored. When viewed as if you are the character, the story becomes harder to dismiss or ignore.
It’s fascinating to watch a movie through the eyes of a character, from their voice, but only get their reactions in sparse reflections or if the scene replays from the other character’s perspective. It is a very different way to watch a film, one that requires you to embody the character even more than in a traditional film viewing experience and to get more comfortable with characters looking directly at camera because, as the audience, you become the character and you are seeing the world through their eyes. While the film is dual protagonist-led, the central protagonist is Elwood, who we meet as a child; we also see as adult Elwood (played by Daveed Diggs) years after leaving the Nickel Academy as he wrestles with his time there as the truth about its past is being uncovered.
Elwood and Turner had different lives, which led them to the Nickel Academy, so their perspectives are very different, Elwood holds onto the hope of justice, while Turner is a cynic who wants to game the hand he’s got now. Switching perspectives allows us to see the world, Nickel, and the other person through those eyes. But through the progression of the story and the switches, you get the bond of their friendship and what kept them going at the Nickel Academy.
Nickel Boys is currently playing in select theatres in New York and Los Angeles before a wider theatrical release in January. It will later be released on Prime.
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