Nickel Boys

By putting you in the literal point-of-view of its characters, the film becomes an empathy machine.

Based on Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel, Ross’s adaptation is a poetical rendering of its subject matter.

Just because the director has shot it in this way does not mean this was the best way to shoot it.

Nickel Boys is a triumph.

And yet for all the radical dazzle of Ross’s filmmaking, human drama is always the crux.

“Nickel Boys” offers a different way to understand horrors based on true events not that far in the past by plunging viewers into its characters’ humanity.

At its most brilliant, Ross’s visual approach solidifies Nickel Boys’ most profound reminder: all these boys’ experiences, memories, and lives mattered.

Not being an easy watch, Nickel Boys offers an impressionistic view of a tragic experience, covering predictable ground with an admirable sense of artistry and a fair dose of sincerity.

...Nickel Boys almost wastes the power of its plot due to the gimmicks of the images. It's a shame because the performances are convincing, more so than the story itself. [Full review in Spanish]

Its stylistic accomplishment is less in reanimating history than making it live and breathe in the present — to interrogate ideas about the gaze, and what we as an audience bring to the table.