Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross’s portrait of the harsh life in a US reform school is a surprise Oscars contender

Nickel Boys has become one of the surprise additions to the 97th Academy Awards.

Based on the 2019 Colson Whitehead novel of the same name, it has been nominated in the best picture and best adapted screenplay categories at the Oscars this March.

Shot entirely in the first-person perspective, it follows the friendship between two black teenagers living in the harrowing environment of a racially segregated reform school in 1960s Florida.

In trying to give a voice to the voiceless, director RaMell Ross tells Sky News he made a conscious decision to shift the narrative away from the violence and instead shine the spotlight on the people at the centre of the story.

He describes it as “a multiple fold”.

“One of the folds is just the history of cinema and its relationship to the voyeurism of black folks being harassed, tortured, and beaten. And knowing that enough, the image is already in our heads,” he says.

“The second fold would be that there’s so many ways to explore trauma, and I would say most of them are by far unexplored. And so, what other ways are there?”

What makes Nickel Boys even more distressing is the fact that it was inspired by a real place, the Dozier School in Florida, where mass graves containing the bodies of young black boys were discovered.

Ethan Herisse plays Elwood in the film, a promising teenager who unknowingly gets into a stolen car and is arrested just as he’s on the cusp of creating the life he desires.

The When They See Us actor says being involved in the project was a unique experience.

Herisse says: “While we were making it, it felt like we were doing something special and there was so much love from all the people that were working on that set. So, I was just hoping that it was able to come across when it was all said and done.

“I can’t remember the last time that I had been so absorbed and immersed in a world of a movie. It was in such a unique way with this one.

“I wasn’t necessarily in my own body, and I think that that’s a really rewarding experience to have as a viewer.”

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Nickel Boys takes some bold risks in cinematography and Herisse believes audiences are looking for films that challenge the viewer.

Herisse says: “I think there is a real deep desire from audience members to watch, like original and exciting and unique new films that bring them to a different place or force them into a different perspective.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing.”

The film is something of an underdog for best picture, simply because the others, like Conclave, A Complete Unknown, Emilia Perez and Dune: Part Two, received much wider releases and are currently available to watch either in cinema or on streaming platforms.