NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� RaMell Ross sometimes sends his photography students out on a unique assignment. He tells them to photograph a white person, a Black person, an Asian person and an Indian person. 鈥淎nd,鈥� he adds, 鈥淚 want you to ask them how they want to be represented.鈥�
Before Ross was a photographer, a professor, a documentarian and, most recently, a he was a point guard whose 6-foot-6-inches height allowed him to peer over defenders to see the entire court. Ross鈥� basketball career was derailed by injuries while at Georgetown University. But he has, ever since been fascinated with the ways we see.
In 鈥淣ickel Boys,鈥� one of the most thrillingly innovative American films of the decade, Ross adapts . It鈥檚 about two young men 鈥� Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) 鈥� who鈥檝e been sent to an abusive, mid-century Florida reform school called Nickel Academy.
The story, laced with the cruelties of the Jim Crow-era South, has commonalities with films made before. But the grammar of 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� is entirely its own. Ross shot the film, which opens Friday in New York and expands in coming weeks, almost entirely from the point of view of Elwood and Turner. As we watch, we鈥檙e looking through their eyes. We gaze up at the sky or feel a blow to the head or feel the warmth of someone affectionately looking back at us.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an ode to looking out of the eyes of those whose eyes have been owned by others, and whose perception has been managed by others,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淔ilms that take place in the past reproduce the aesthetics of the past. I question the aesthetics of the past."
In a medium that has been called 鈥渁n empathy machine,鈥� 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� is a striking leap forward. In situating the viewer within the inner world of Elwood and Turner, it brings us closer to their experience, while shedding many of the conventions of both modern moviemaking and historical depictions from the time period of 鈥淣ickel Boys.鈥�
鈥淚 know if any person in here that has wild stereotypes about the world that they acknowledge or don鈥檛 if they saw through my eyes, they would be other gone, challenged or would collapse,鈥� said Ross in a recent interview over coffee in midtown Manhattan. 鈥淭he power is in the self and the eyes.鈥�
For Ross, who teaches visual art at Brown University, 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� isn鈥檛 just about finding a new way to photograph. It鈥檚 an attempt to uncover a visual language of consciousness, and specifically Black consciousness. In the time of 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� the dominant imagery was created overwhelmingly through a perspective that wasn鈥檛 Elwood鈥檚, that wasn鈥檛 Turner鈥檚.
鈥淭he question is,鈥� says Ross, 鈥渃an you repopulate the missing archive?鈥�
Seeing first person
POV camerawork has been tried occasionally through movie history. Robert Montgomery鈥檚 1947 Raymond Chandler adaptation 鈥淭he Lady in the Lake鈥� is generally credited as the first mainstream film shot in first person. That same year, 鈥淒ark Passage鈥� began with a first-person prison escape, and doesn鈥檛 change perspective until the escapee (Humphry Bogart) undergoes plastic surgery.
But Ross wasn鈥檛 thinking about any precedents. Ross, who wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes complete with head turns and camera moves, wanted something much deeper than a gimmick.
In his most celebrated photography series, Ross examined Blackness across a Southern terrain indelibly traversed by photographers like Walker Evans. (Ross had moved to Greensboro, Alabama, to do social work and teach a college readiness program.) His images tend to be in dialogue with the photography of the past. Time, Ross says, became his medium.
鈥淚鈥檓 definitely interested in thickening the present,鈥� he says.
For a month before shooting, Ross and cinematographer Jomo Fray rehearsed with a small digital camera. Fray, who shot Raven Jackson鈥檚 lyrical 2023 mosaic drama found the process of finding new filmic vernacular enthralling.
鈥淲e have only begun to scratch the very surface of what cinema is capable of. Cinema is a medium that shares a language with our dreams,鈥� says Fray. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still at the infancy of this as an artistic form.鈥�
Creating a 鈥榮entient perspective鈥�
Ross and Fray, each of whom can be dazzlingly analytical about filmmaking and photography, found they weren鈥檛 exactly seeking POV. In reality, that would be too shaky and uncentered. Instead, they honed what they call 鈥渟entient perspective鈥� 鈥� a POV that didn't mimic eyes but came closer to the feeling of being within a body.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an invitation,鈥� says Fray. 鈥淭he image is an invitation for the viewer to really place themselves in a body that they may or may not recognize. For two hours, you truly are walking in the shoes of another person. And that鈥檚 at the heart of the promise of cinema.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 easy. Countless basic actions would need to be rethought. What would a hug look like? Production design, by Norah Mendis, essentially needed to be in all directions, 360 degrees. Operating the camera, Fray almost had to be an actor in the film, himself.
鈥淭he second that we started getting into how to make the film, I understood immediately why films like this aren鈥檛 made,鈥� says Ross.
Yet, part of the beauty of 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� is how impressionistic the imagery still is. We get to know Elwood and Turner not just by what they do or what they say, but how they look upon the world, what they notice. Herisse and Wilson had the unique experience of always acting either alongside the camera rig or staring back into a lens.
鈥淎 lot of time we鈥檇 be trading places with Jomo or RaMell, but we鈥檇 stay really close and try to stay as present as possible,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淥n the other side, when you have to look down a lens, that鈥檚 a different thing. You鈥檙e trying to not look like you鈥檙e looking at a camera, but seeing the other person on the other side of the camera."
鈥淭he first time I watched it, there was a complete detachment,鈥� says Herisse. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 make the connection that that was me.鈥�
Perspectives on POV
The experience of watching 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� has been transcendent for many, though some critics have been more tepid about how the subjective POV alters your relationship to the characters. Some have said that connection is harder without the benefit of regular close-ups.
While Ross grants that 鈥淣ickel Boys鈥� 鈥� a for best feature film, drama, and with 鈥� might be challenging for those who don鈥檛 regularly engage with art or go to the theater, it鈥檚 not a criticism he has much patience for.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 give a (expletive) that you want these Black boys鈥� narratives to be told in a way you think makes you feel good, or make you feel connected emotionally. Can you hear yourself? Do you know how self-centered you sound?鈥� says Ross, addressing those critics. 鈥淒o you know a way to treat the viewer not as a voyeur in the death of Black folks? I don鈥檛 know, but I think there鈥檚 an interesting way to try that doesn鈥檛 repeat the brutality in the minds of others. It gives them life. It restores something. It鈥檚 not about their death.鈥�
Ross imagines he鈥檒l be making more movies, but, he says, he鈥檚 in no rush. As a professor he gets to watch movies, look at photography, and talk to smart young people who have been trained in words but not in images.
And Ross is still working out his own vernacular. 鈥淪hooting鈥� film, for example, doesn鈥檛 sound right to him. What鈥檚 better?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know yet,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淓ngage the world. Go participate. Go make images.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
