Sweeping Scenery and Lasting Friendship Take Focus in RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys Trailer

An official trailer has been launched for Nickel Boys, the upcoming adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

Inspired by the true story of the Dozier School for Boys and set in the Jim Crow South, Nickel Boys follows two Black boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who are sent to Nickel Academy, an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. This will mark the fiction debut of director RaMell Ross, who previously received an Academy Award nomination for his 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening. 

The trailer alone boasts some of the most breathtaking images captured on screen this year (courtesy of cinematographer Jomo Fray). There’s the opening shot of a boy cycling through a long, winding road, surrounded by open fields. There’s the image of schoolgirls giggling as they skip down a sunny sidewalk. There are the heady, sometimes dizzying shots filmed quite literally from the point of view of the characters, each head shake and body movement reflected in the motion of the camera. Pair this with a rousing score by Alex Somers and Scott Alario, and it’s no wonder that the film received rave reviews after premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, where The A.V. Club’s Tomris Laffly called it “a film that fiercely wears its heart and artistic intentions on its sleeve.”