Nickel Boys: This movie was the last of the Best Picture nominees that I needed to see. I had honestly not heard about it, nor seen any promotions featuring it, so I went into the viewing expecting that this would be a movie without much Oscar pedigree. I had no background nor any knowledge of the source material, which is a Pullitzer prize winning book by the author Colson Whitehead. This is a movie which speaks about the not-too-distant past (starting in the early 1960s) in the Southern US. It details the story of two young black men in a Reform School in Florida called Nickel Academy.
I will preface this explanation with a credit to the director for finding a way to tell a story effectively over time using what is for the most part a first-person account of the action. Initially it was a little disorienting, because I wasn’t clear on whether the view was from a person with a camera versus with their own perspective. I learned that it is a perspective thing. Over the course of the film, the perspectives do change which is helpful, as well as it assists in filling in some plot points. It is also used to better introduce us to the main character Elwood Curtis (played by Ethan Herisse) and also Turner (played by Brandon Wilson). Much of the earlier images have a feel like a Terrence Malick film with short snippets and close up shots. Add in some timely news items of that time with Martin Luther King and you can see how the times impact the story.
Elwood is a bright 17yo young man, who has a loving grandmother. He does well in school and is offered a chance, by a teacher, to visit a school in northern Florida which is tuition free and for people of colour. On his way to the school, he has a fateful hitchhiking pick up from an older young black man driving a nice car. He quickly is in the back of a police cruiser and being dropped off at the Nickel Academy. He along with other boys there, in this segregated school, are told that there is a hierarchy of actions which will lead to their being deemed fit to be released. But it becomes evident early that this is a forced labour camp with little schooling and reforming going on. The boys who misbehave are whipped. Family members are not allowed to see the boys. It all feels a lot more like a prison with no real way to ever escape.
In Canada, we have more recently been told about residential schools for our young indiginous people, taken away from their parents, family and heritage with a view towards making them more able to “integrate” into the mainstream white society. It is a national disgrace. I am reminded that horrible things have been happening in the world as long as man has been around. In the southern US, this movie poignantly shows the life of young men being forever changed in a government, State sponsored institution. A young man whose only mistake, not even a crime, was to be in the wrong car offering a ride, has his life forever changed. We can see the impact that is has had to him and those around him. It is a very sad commentary. This is especially true when the new US administration speaks to “merit” being the sole criteria for jobs and advancement while here circumstance greatly shapes this young man’s life. The end result of Nickel Academy is not unlike the residential schools. I think that this is a worthy film for nomination. It is a good story, effectively told which speaks to a situation that I knew nothing about. Imagine being the grandmother in this situation? How utterly helpless you would feel! Even when she tries to do something about it, she is taken advantage of. How sad! Images of space, and advancement in technology in space highlight the fact that in many ways a lot of these institutions that aren’t helping can still exist, or that as we explore space, we don’t explore what happens in our own backyards with our children. I recommend and enjoying this experience. Check it out if you can find it.
Love Is Blind Season 8: I find it most interesting that some of the greatest drama introduced into this season revolve around social media. The dating world is challenging enough with finding a person that you are compatible with, with all of its social, monetary and other challenges. But add in your online presence and it adds a new dimension and one which you may have no control over. We have five couples who seem well connected going into the last two epsiodes dropped friday, and we learn the one couple has a contestant worried about his choice having been on a “date” with a guy before the show began. She is, in fact, single, and single people do this. But his level of insecurity, and disbelief in her makes it feel more like an excuse for him, while making her feel terrible about something that she is not responsible.
Then the second couple has a distraught ex-date from 4 years before posting some viral video where she is looking to torpedo the character of the guy who is entirely committed with his new person. It’s all rather bizarre for those who clearly want to have Likes and Friends on social media ahve an issue on whether someone followed them, before the show, and then later unfollowed them. If you don’t share so much on social media, then perhaps this isn’t an issue. Seems the issue is on the person with the profile than those who follow. But I am old!!
The merciful conclusion will be dropped on Feb 28th. Then we can all move ahead with our lives!
Mondays With Robbie 