Directed by Spencer King and written by Tim Tuchrello, after his neighbour’s son is involved in a motorcycle accident, Tom Monroe finds himself returning to memories of his older brother’s tragic death 30 years earlier. Starring: Rob Riggle, Aaron Holliday, Elizabeth Tulloch, Rebecca Gayheart, Vinessa Shaw, Odessa A’zion and Tom Arnold.
In all honesty, typically audiences can find it overly easy to dismiss a film like Nickels, one that has an emotional foundation, with spiritual themes and experiences that often take a little bit of belief. However, that’s often because they’re judging a book by its cover, but if you give it the benefit of the doubt, you can find something you enjoy and you really don’t need any sort of faith or belief to still enjoy this story. Ultimately, Tim Tuchrello’s writing is much more focused on grief, self-imposed blame, and unprocessed emotions which continue to cause you pain later in life.
It’s never truly about religion or spirituality, even if they do have their parts to play, which makes this story much more accessible. Often, films like this can become overwrought with the religious themes, which is a key factor in provoking that early judgement of them, Nickels is not one of them. Spencer King crafts a tone which is open and touching, it uses coincidence to its advantage but not overtly, and keeps its atmosphere within the realm of traditional drama, rather than becoming melodramatic. There’s a curiousness to it, it moves gradually and considerately.
A big part of that is pairing the tone with the utterly unexpected performance from Rob Riggle. Known for his comedic work, that is often filled with gross and loud humour, here Riggle brings things down to earth and delivers a grounded performance. He gets the level of emotion just right, he gives Tom kind, fatherly qualities, making him sympathetic and relatable. As is his struggle to process the loss of his brother, never quite finding the path to acceptance and needing that extra push to reach it.
Aaron Holliday also gives an interesting performance as Mitch, there’s an enigmatic quality to it which keeps you guessing, and boosts Nickels’ atmosphere. He makes it very difficult for the audience to determine his true motives. Odessa A’zion is also a great addition as Tom’s daughter Harper, finding herself caught up in her father’s journey. Having sympathy with him but also being unconsciously pushed away from him as his struggle deepens.
Nickels is contemplative and unexpected, there are so many films like this which have taken the wrong road and become saccharine, preaching or insincere, but Spencer King does a solid job to avoid all of those pitfalls. The cinematography from Luke Dyra is well done, there’s some great shot placement from King, and the writing from Tim Tuchrello is relatable, touching and thankfully does not get lost within the realm of religion. The key to this one was that it kept things simple, let the emotions speak for themselves, and didn’t go overboard with the drama, it’s entertaining and empathetic.
