Nickel Boys is based on the historic reform school in 1960s Florida called the Dozier School for Boys, which was notorious for abusive treatment of students. It explores the story of Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a young African-American boy who is sent to the Nickel Academy, a fictional version of the Dozier School, after he is falsely accused of a crime.

While there, he meets a boy named Turner (Brandon Willis), and the two form a close friendship as they try to survive the horrors of the school and its corrupt administrators.

Reminiscent of the granular attention lavished by Barry Jenkins on his protagonists in Moonlight, Ross’s film is a dazzling achievement – a bold and beguiling exploration of trauma and buried American history.