Tell me its awards season without telling me its award season… until 1:48 on thursday this wasnt on my watchlist & now im paying to see this to try & complete the set. Yep this is up for best picture, its been out for 5 weeks & this is the first time ive seen it be available for a screening anywhere, so here i am ready to watch Nickle Boys. I had seen some people talk about this before hand but not enough that i thought it would get top 10 recognition for film of the year.

Im in the studio at my local cinema. & i walked in during the trailers cos i can time this so perfectly, its crazy. Does mean that all i can tell yo uis they are showing the brutalist & that there were about 15 other people sitting on the balcony with me.

& then the film started… Well that was a bloody sad movie.

If im honest it took me a little while to work out this was a first person film. It really did. & then it repeated a scene & i was like oh okay. I just thought it was an interesting way of making a film just observing the word & not the leads until we meet the other lead. It was a clever way of doing it. Most heart-breaking episode of Peep Show ever for sure. IF you dont know what Peep Show is its worth watching some of the earlier seasons of it.

Once i had worked out it was first person, i realised the twist a little bit earlier that i should have done, i was wondering why it wasnt just straight forward & looking like the rest of the films shooting, so when we really got into act 3 i was wondering how it was going to change. It was a clever move for sure.

Considering it was all shot in first person it had some beautiful cinematography. It was very haunting & tragic at points & showed how bad this life was & what they did to these kids, but it was also very poetic & needs to be seen because we can never go back to this way of life. It just hurt the soul. There was someone in the row behind me full on weeping at it at points. I hope no one ever has to live through anything like this again. With the state of the world at the moment, we are taking step backwards, & showing how this still effects those who lived through this & how they were treated & that stories & horrors are still being uncovered is just horrendous, but it needs to be told.

I was not expecting Fred to be in another outstanding film from last year, so much so that i gasped when he was on screen. & then by the end of the film i wanted to punch him, a lot. Shows hes such a good actor.

Ethan & Brandon gave very vulnerable performances, which were naïve, but that was the point. They were robbed of their lives & childhood, of course it needed to have that feel to it.

I think it would have worked better without the jump forwards earlier on in the film. I think it would have been a more powerful ending if we hadnt already seen that there was something later on. It meant when the steaks were upped for act 3, it was more scary as to what would happen next.

It was a very simple story about life & opportunities & oppression. It hits hard when it has to & each time it give you hope like it does the kids at the institute it dashes it away from you so much. But part of me wishes i went a little further. Each time it got really dark we then cut away from that moment. Only twice was it a really hard watch.

I can so see why the academy loves this & its up for awards this year. Will it win any, probably not, but its a powerful & important watch about life & how grateful we should be to not have lived that life where a misunderstanding can lead to so much pain & suffering.