RaMell Ross is among the most highly acclaimed filmmakers working today. Known for his bold and provocative storytelling in his films, Ross won’t rest. This is the cinematic way into the system, racism, injustice, and the brutal experiences of two boys in an ill-natured reform school, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead known as The Nickel Boys. He is known for his specific form of filmmaking, and, for instance, this project would be considered an “experiment of perception” with a subjective point of view in order to really help question that of the audience’s perception of the narrative and their involvement in emotive levels.
To Ross, the core of Nickel Boys would be its blurring between actual facts and personal life. What he does is more like sinking into the psychological and emotional lives of characters rather than linear or fact-based narration. The subjective nature of the frame would also engender a rich and deep experience of reality for itself, letting the viewers wrangle with how they understand and perceive the narrative.
In interviews, Ross claims to have wanted the movie to be one that describes events little but makes one experience them. With it through moments from the viewpoint of the characters, especially Elwood and Turner, Ross supplies the audience with a visceral experience of the boys’ struggles, hopes, and disillusionments. It is a subjective approach: an “experiment of perception,” challenging the viewer not only by what s/he sees on screen but also by the interpretation s/he may use to understand the characters’ internal worlds.
Ross’s earlier films, such as the documentary that earned him an Academy Award nomination, Hale County This morning, this evening, revealed an interest in nonconventional storytelling and visual tales. Here, Ross resorts to the same kind of artsy vision, fractured time frame, abstract images, and close-ups in an attempt at creating emotional urgency. It is only when the audience is thrust into the shoes of the characters that Ross hopes to make people feel the same kind of sympathy, as the movie really provokes a critical thinking about how such stories about injustice and trauma are packaged.
At the heart of Ross’s experiment lies the principle that perception does not necessarily have to be a passive process. Through the experiment, the perspectives of the viewers are put to the test against their assumptions and biases through which they have observed the extremely complex realities of the lives of the boys. Ultimately, embracing the subjective, Ross looks to make cinema intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant; in Nickel Boys, therefore, its power will all the more be extraordinary as a scathing examination of history, trauma, and the human condition.
