Nickel Boys (2024) on Netflix
In 1960s Florida, Elwood Curtis is wrongly convicted as an accomplice in a stolen car and sentenced to the Nickel Academy, where he meets a fellow student named Turner.
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- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb6.9/1024,702 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
"Nickel Boys" is based on the historic reform school in Florida called the "Dozier School for Boys", which was notorious for abusive treatment of students. It's the story of Elwood Curtis, a young African-American boy who is sent to the Nickel Academy after he is falsely accused of a crime during the 1960s. While there, he meets a boy named Turner, and the two form a close friendship as they try to survive the horrors of the school and its corrupt administrators.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Nickel Boys (2024)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was shot from a first-person point-of-view with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio so viewers see the plot through the eyes of its two protagonists, a choice compared to Robert Montgomery's 1947 film noir Lady in the Lake.
- In a scene where Hattie hugs Turner, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor did not physically hug a scene partner; camera operator Sam Ellison moved the camera to suggest the hug. Ellis-Taylor said the arrangement made her feel isolated but helped her play a lonely character who craves intimacy.
- The film is inspired by the Dozier School for Boys, a now-closed Florida reform school notorious for its abusive treatment of students.
- The film was conceived as all one-ers, with Elwood's perspective shot for the first hour and Turner's for the second, and rarely both perspectives in the same scene.
