Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is an idealistic Black high school student in Jim Crow-era Florida whose dreams of attending college are derailed when racist law officials falsely accuse and then convict him of a crime, taking him away from his beloved grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). At Nickel Academy, a reformatory school, Elwood forms a close friendship with fellow inmate Turner (Brandon Wilson), who has adopted a cynical attitude in response to the abusive treatment at the hands of the corrupt administrators.

RaMell Ross’s adaptation of The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, tells a powerful coming-of-age story in a formally audacious manner; the film plays out as a series of first-person impressions, the perspective switching periodically between characters as the story progresses from the 1960s to the 2010s. The effect is immersive, inventive, and deeply moving.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 15.10 on Friday 3rd, and 20.20 on Tuesday 7th.

Notes by David O’Mahony