Nickel Boys might not be the biggest name among the movies nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars. But just by being nominated, RaMell Ross’ second feature film has already achieved a feat that only a handful of other movies in Oscars history have managed. It tells the fictional story of Elwood, an African-American who grew up in the Southern United States during the Jim Crow era, and was unjustly sent to the real-life reform school Nickel Academy during his childhood.