Justin Chang

They're both ambitious period dramas, directed by two filmmakers of extraordinary talent and vision. Nickel Boys is simply one of the most thrillingly inventive literary adaptations I've seen in years. It's based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel by Colson Whitehead about two black boys in 1960s Florida who were sent to a reform school called Nickel Academy.

Elwood, played by Ethan Harisi, is a studious teenager who lands in Nickel after unwittingly hitching a ride in a stolen car. At Nickel, he meets Turner, played by Brandon Wilson. The two forge a close friendship that sustains them through the tedium and the terror of life at Nickel.

Elwood, played by Ethan Harisi, is a studious teenager who lands in Nickel after unwittingly hitching a ride in a stolen car. At Nickel, he meets Turner, played by Brandon Wilson. The two forge a close friendship that sustains them through the tedium and the terror of life at Nickel.

Elwood, played by Ethan Harisi, is a studious teenager who lands in Nickel after unwittingly hitching a ride in a stolen car. At Nickel, he meets Turner, played by Brandon Wilson. The two forge a close friendship that sustains them through the tedium and the terror of life at Nickel.

Whitehead based his story on real-life events at Florida's Dozier School for Boys, which operated from 1900 to 2011, and where many students were found to have been abused, tortured, and in some cases murdered by staff.

Whitehead based his story on real-life events at Florida's Dozier School for Boys, which operated from 1900 to 2011, and where many students were found to have been abused, tortured, and in some cases murdered by staff.

Whitehead based his story on real-life events at Florida's Dozier School for Boys, which operated from 1900 to 2011, and where many students were found to have been abused, tortured, and in some cases murdered by staff.

Elwood, an idealist deeply inspired by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., believes he can get out of nickel through legal channels, with some help from his loving grandmother, wonderfully played by ingenue Ellis Taylor. But the more cynical, streetwise Turner has his doubts. My grandmother got me that lawyer, man. Make a move there first.

Elwood, an idealist deeply inspired by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., believes he can get out of nickel through legal channels, with some help from his loving grandmother, wonderfully played by ingenue Ellis Taylor. But the more cynical, streetwise Turner has his doubts. My grandmother got me that lawyer, man. Make a move there first.

Elwood, an idealist deeply inspired by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., believes he can get out of nickel through legal channels, with some help from his loving grandmother, wonderfully played by ingenue Ellis Taylor. But the more cynical, streetwise Turner has his doubts. My grandmother got me that lawyer, man. Make a move there first.

You could run. Nickel Boys is the first narrative feature written and directed by Rommel Ross, who previously made Hale County This Morning, This Evening, a lyrical documentary about black life in Alabama. Remarkably, Ross's filmmaking has lost none of its poetry here.

You could run. Nickel Boys is the first narrative feature written and directed by Rommel Ross, who previously made Hale County This Morning, This Evening, a lyrical documentary about black life in Alabama. Remarkably, Ross's filmmaking has lost none of its poetry here.

You could run. Nickel Boys is the first narrative feature written and directed by Rommel Ross, who previously made Hale County This Morning, This Evening, a lyrical documentary about black life in Alabama. Remarkably, Ross's filmmaking has lost none of its poetry here.

He and his cinematographer, Joe Mofray, have boldly decided to tell the story in the visual equivalent of first person, so that at any given moment, you're seeing the world through the eyes of either Elwood or Turner. The approach takes some getting used to, but the effect is astonishing.

He and his cinematographer, Joe Mofray, have boldly decided to tell the story in the visual equivalent of first person, so that at any given moment, you're seeing the world through the eyes of either Elwood or Turner. The approach takes some getting used to, but the effect is astonishing.

He and his cinematographer, Joe Mofray, have boldly decided to tell the story in the visual equivalent of first person, so that at any given moment, you're seeing the world through the eyes of either Elwood or Turner. The approach takes some getting used to, but the effect is astonishing.

It calls on us to empathize in a radical new way with these two young men, their fleeting hopes and their crushing sense of entrapment. By toggling between Elwood's and Turner's perspectives and showing us how much they depend on each other, the movie makes us feel as if their souls are truly connected, an achievement that becomes all the more heartbreaking as the film goes on.

It calls on us to empathize in a radical new way with these two young men, their fleeting hopes and their crushing sense of entrapment. By toggling between Elwood's and Turner's perspectives and showing us how much they depend on each other, the movie makes us feel as if their souls are truly connected, an achievement that becomes all the more heartbreaking as the film goes on.

It calls on us to empathize in a radical new way with these two young men, their fleeting hopes and their crushing sense of entrapment. By toggling between Elwood's and Turner's perspectives and showing us how much they depend on each other, the movie makes us feel as if their souls are truly connected, an achievement that becomes all the more heartbreaking as the film goes on.

The Brutalist is no less beautifully shot than Nickel Boys, but it's told in a more straightforward, classically sweeping fashion. Adrian Brody, in his best performance since he won an Oscar for The Pianist, stars as Laszlo Toth, a Holocaust survivor who arrives in New York in 1947.