by Mattie Lucas
Cinema from a Decidedly Queer Perspective
Nickel Boys | 2024
RaMell Ross' exceptional documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) was the kind of debut that heralded a wholly unique new cinematic voice whose observational style finds something almost magical in the most mundane places and situations. Ross brings that same energy to his narrative feature debut, Nickel Boys, and the results are revelatory, as if we're watching the cinematic language be rewritten before our eyes.
There's something agreeably no-nonsense about Alex Parkinson's Last Breath, a straight-down-the-middle, meat-and-potatoes true-life rescue thriller we rarely see anymore. Perhaps I'm looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, but there once was a time when mid-budget actioners like this were multiplex staples. Nowadays, you're more likely to see movies like this relegated to streaming rather than playing on a big screen.