The devastating Los Angeles fires in January forced the postponement of this year's Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards dinner. But on February 6th, the show went on, resulting in an evening that was a little more subdued but, nonetheless, still rather joyous. It was my honor to present our award for Best Cinematography, which deservedly went to the year's best film. Here were my remarks from the stage:
Few cinematographers today are more exciting than Jomo Fray. He has shot some of the most distinctive feature debuts in recent memory, including Selah and the Spades and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. His images are tactile, lived-in — they stun without feeling showy. His camerawork, which is often centered on Black narratives, has the grace of a poem.I was so glad to have Jomo Fray there. I hadn't met him, and he was, unsurprisingly, terrific. (Also, everybody loved his outfit.) All of our winners can be found here. This photo was taken by Shiloh Strong.
Tonight, we celebrate his crucial contribution to Nickel Boys, deservedly praised for its audacious use of first-person POV. Working alongside first-time feature director RaMell Ross, Fray had to determine precisely how the film’s teenage characters would take in their world, shooting on locations that often had to be 360-degree environments, with a nimble camera meant to replicate Elwood and Turner’s sentient perspective. From a craft standpoint, Nickel Boys was an enormous undertaking.
But anyone moved beyond words by this film doesn’t talk about aspect ratios or SnorriCam rigs. Instead, we marvel at myriad indelible shots that feel like childhood memories. Nickel Boys is full of pain and sorrow, but there’s also an incredible innocence to it — we don’t just see the film from Elwood and Turner’s perspective, we reconnect with the spirit of being young, back when our impressionable eyes were hungrily absorbing everything around us. Fray’s camera is attuned to these terrors and joys. We practically smell the stench of the so-called White House, where the Black students of Nickel are beaten. But we also delight at the sight of an adorable girl smiling under our seat on a bus.
The film invites us to experience it all in this most extraordinary of coming-of-age dramas, to bear witness to a country’s history of racism and cruelty — a history that remains so very present. Nickel Boys is an act of love and an act of defiance. And Jomo Fray makes sure we never look away.
Please join me in congratulating our winner for Best Cinematography, Jomo Fray.
