Some films only need to be seen once to fully grasp the intentions and purpose of the filmmaker. “Nickel Boys,” RaMell Ross’ evocative adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is not one of those films.

The film, which opens Jan. 3 in Bay Area theaters, is like a prism, constantly revealing a new and different angle as it proceeds.

Ross’ novel approach tells Whitehead’s tale, based on true events, about two young Black men stuck in a wretched juvenile Florida reformatory school, the site of relentless and sometimes fatal abuse. What makes it a unique film about being Black in America is that it’s told from both teens’ perspective, literally changing its POV as the story evolves. It is revelatory to behold. It’s also initially off-putting and takes some getting used to since it goes against the grain of conventional narratives. The result is something far more soulful, truthful, tragic and joyous than what we would “see” in a linear fashion.

The daring approach (cinematographer Jomo Fray deserves a lot of credit for helping pull this off) creates a stirring string of inter-connected impressionistic coming-of-age sequences, all of which get edited with grace and fluidity by Nicholas Monsour. Each scene grants access to the mostly Jim Crow-era world seen from the eyes of Ellwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) as each bear witness to brutal injustices and multi-storied racism.

One of the most indelible scenes features Ellwood staring at a truck with a KKK-ready cross in its bed. But Ross balances those with moments of sheer beauty – the look of unconditional love from a grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), an unexpected friendship that buds, blossoms and then goes on to haunt one of boys forever.

Ross’ film, like Whitehead’s novel, refuses to serve as a one-note cinematic treatise on Black trauma. One of the key narrative threads centers on the adult Ellwood (Daveed Diggs) who is forced to confront a wraith-like fallout from the past when numerous boys’ bodies get dug up the Nickel Academy grounds. (The real-life Floridan Dozier School for Boys served as the basis for the film and novel.)

Ross spares no anguish when depicting the young victims of the academy, but he also refuses to define them solely by their trauma. To that point, Ross also refrains from graphically depicting the horrible acts committed, so they don’t overwhelm his story.

He and production designer Nora Mendis further heighten what it’s like for Ellwood and Turner growing up during that volatile period through various visual cues  (a collection of memorabilia magnetized to grandma Hattie’s refrigerator is rife with more defining detail and context). Ross uses visual metaphors – including alligators – to that purpose, adding another layer of symbolism you might want to explore in more viewings.

Ross’ storytelling approach does present a formidable challenge to actors: All in the cast must be willing to use the most of their limited in-front-of-the-camera screen time since we don’t see directly into Ellwood’s face until the perspective switches to Turner. Both Wilson and Herisse make the reveal of their faces seem like a natural conclusion, while Diggs conveys through body language the turmoil of what his character is undergoing. But it is Ellis-Taylor’s big-hearted performance as a grandmother with enormous reservoirs of love and compassion that deepens the soul of this beautiful groundbreaking work of art, an achievement that we’ll be talking about and referencing in years to come.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com

‘NICKEL BOYS’

4 stars out of 4

Rated: PG-13 (violence)

Cast: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Daveed Diggs, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Director: RaMell Ross

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

When & where: Opens Jan. 3 in Bay Area theaters

Originally Published: December 30, 2024 at 11:00 AM PST

Like many critics, I despised the 2019 CGI version of “The Lion King.” The new animation was ugly and the rehashing of the story from the 1994 classic without many changes made the whole thing seem unnecessary. But unlike many critics, I’m not ready to throw prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” away just because of the sins of its predecessor. I’m not saying that it’s not still inextricably tied to the 2019 film, especially with its still-terrible CGI animation, but the story and characters can do some roaming on their own that makes for a breath of fresh air.

The film opens with Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) going away on some adult lion business and leaving their cub Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) in the care of comic relief meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). A storm is approaching, Kiara is scared, and Timon and Pumbaa’s danger-fraught stories aren’t helping. Wizened mandril Rafiki (John Kani), an old friend of the family, steps in and tells Kiara a story about her grandfather Mufasa’s bravery so that she won’t just be soothed, she’ll be inspired to be brave herself going forward. The framing device isn’t a bad idea in and of itself, and Kiara is important to the future of this world with the Circle of Life and all that, but Timon and Pumbaa are nothing but grating here. Their tired, lowbrow schtick gets the movie off to such a bad start and causes so many unwelcome interruptions that frankly I can understand why some people think they’re a deal-breaker for the entire film.

Fortunately, things pick up once the movie commits to the story of Mufasa (voiced as a cub by Braelyn and Brielle Rankins). A flood took him away from his parents (Anika Noni Rose and Keith David – because of course it took two of the greatest voices in the world to sire a character that would eventually have the all-time great voice of James Earl Jones) and he was rescued by Taka (Theo Somolu), an unblemished prince from a faraway pride who is quick to consider him a brother. King Obasi (Lennie James) allows Mufasa to live with the pride on the condition that he mostly live with the lionesses, led by Queen Eshe (Thandiwe Newton). This is supposed to be humiliation, but while Taka grows up learning rotten lessons from his jerk father, Mufasa picks up useful practical skills. He’s even able to protect Taka and Eshe from the son of evil lion Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), who sets his sights on wiping out the entire pride, sending Taka and Mufasa fleeing toward a sanctuary called Milele.

Along the way, Mufasa (now Aaron Pierre) and Taka (now Kelvin Harrison Jr.) make friends with Rafiki, as well as fellow lion Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her guide-bird Zazu (Preston Nyman), and they form an unlikely pack. Both Taka and Mufasa develop feelings for Sarabi, but Mufasa is bound by his honor to defer to Taka. Sarabi falls for Mufasa anyway, and Taka considers it a betrayal. The team has to not only worry about making it to Milele with Kiros in pursuit, but dissention between two lions that were, for all intents and purposes, brothers.

Yes, it’s easy to see where the story is going when you consider that certain characters have to end up in certain places by the time “The Lion King” rolls around. Yes, the animation still isn’t great, but it’s only obnoxiously bad in close-ups, which admittedly the film does far too often. And yes, the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (which sometimes invoke “Moana” more than the actual “Moana” sequel from a few weeks back) aren’t as memorable as the Elton John songs from 1994. But sorry, no, none of that ruins the movie for me. I still found myself invested in these characters, Timon and Pumbaa aside. I see enough effort and passion here that I’m willing to give “Mufasa: The Lion King” a very shaky recommendation.

Grade: B-

“Mufasa: The Lion King” is rated PG for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements. Its running time is 118 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

Babygirl is What We Need in a Vanilla Cinematic Landscape

In recent years, there has been a lack of sexuality in film. I’m not talking about romantic sex, but straight-up fucking. Frankly, movies have been a bit conservative. With film snobs or Gen-Z viewers on Twitter going, “Why do movies need sex scenes?” and the industry adhering to that, cinema has been feeling so radically vanilla. Sex is so much more than shock value in movies. Sex is meant to emphasize connection and pleasure, and why it’s so important to human stimulation, but nobody wants to have that conversation. Babygirl is a perfect personification of that and feels so radical and fresh to witness a movie that allows its lead to experience this pleasure, affair be damned, and not villainize her for it. Also, it’s a ton of fucking fun, dude!

Kidman and Co. Dominate the Screen

Nicole fucking Kidman, man. She’s one of the hardest-working actresses in the industry today, and her performance is something that you’d never even expect from an actress of her caliber. It’s not even the raw sexual fervor because we’ve seen it with Eyes Wide Shut. However, portraying a character with such a high level of class and authority, and swiftly exhibiting a submissive sexual position, such as getting on all fours and licking milk off a bowl or standing in the corner like a school child being punished, without portraying it as humiliation, is a delicate balance that, frankly, no other actress can achieve. The Aussie icon you see in every AMC ad (except for this one, for some reason!) stars in about five or six projects a year and keeps proving her talent. There’s a reason why she’s being touted for Best Actress during the current award season; this is her one-woman show.

The film’s excellent supporting cast also bolsters Kidman’s performance. Harris Dickinson truly understands the assignment as Samuel, the equivalent of a manic pixie fuckboi who can read people easily, but one you can’t seem to figure out yourself. He has this type of seductive magnetism that allows Romy to figure out her freak shit without ever teetering their dynamic toward romance because that’s truly not what this movie is.