A movie shot in first person sounds like a gimmick. Part of the magic of filmed storytelling is accepting that something can be from someone’s point of view and yet also from a distance. Using the ...

Since attending an advanced screening of “Nickel Boys” in mid-November, I’ve seen numerous headlines and quotes touting its brilliance and naming it one of the best films of the year. Much of the ...

The boys help each other, teach each other, and develop an unbreakable friendship. The Nickel Academy houses both Black and white boys, but in separate and very different facilities, with very ...

Everything’s dissolving into something new and squishy and unpredictable in the commercial cinema world, but a handful of big, pre-sold brand names still take care of themselves every year. This ...

The astonishingly beautiful opening moments of RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” signal that this is no ordinary movie. The screen format is an unexpectedly old-school square, and what we see in that square ...

Formally experimental, ‘Nickel Boys’ strives and sometimes succeeds at being immersive, but can also feel removed from its powerful subject matter. There’s no question that writer-director RaMell Ross ...

The 2012 discovery of a mass unmarked grave on the grounds of the Florida School for Boys was the sort of headline that short-circuits the brain. Archeologists estimate that nearly 100 kids died from ...

A young dreamer named Elwood Curtis stares intently at his Black reflection in an electronics shop window as a row of small televisions broadcast Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. Still living under ...

Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp) is a serious-minded schoolboy in Tallahassee, Florida, driven by Martin Luther King’s Civil Rights protests and an inspiring black teacher (Jimmie Fails) to beat the racist ...