By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Greg Kwedar
Starring: Clarence Maclin | Colman Domingo | David Giraudy | Paul Raci | Sean San Jose
Year: 2024
Running time: 105
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28479262/reference/
Michael says: “Colman Domingo stars as an inmate wrongly convicted and incarcerated at a maximum security prison. While working tirelessly on his clemency appeal, he is a motivating force behind the Rehabilitation Through the Arts: Prison Arts Program. While recruiting new members one of the ‘bosses’ of the prison yard expresses interest in the program, and despite some reservations, he is allowed to join and finds the program is effective in ways far beyond the artistic.
“While I was expecting a more formulaic, Hollywood-style, feel-good film I was incredibly impressed by the skillfully constructed screenplay and the beautiful performances by not only Domingo, but the real-life former participants of the program, formerly incarcerated men who recreate their roles (or in one notable case, create roles of other real life men) to beautiful and emotional effect. Director Greg Kwedar (JOCKEY) and his fellow screenwriters convey the complexity and humanity of incarcerated men, and the way the arts can tap into their deeper emotions elegantly, capturing the depth of emotion with great power and without resorting to sentimentality. 4 ½ cats“
Julie says: “This was a wonderful movie and Michael’s review is on point. I was glad to have seen this movie and it definitely zeroed right into my heart in a powerful way (without resorting to sentimentality) as Michael pointed out. 4.5 cats”
Diane says: “SING SING opens with a group of men debating who should be invited into the prison theater company. It’s not long before the camera offers wider and aerial shots of the prison, emphasizing its constriction and regulation. Yet, in contrast to the rigors and danger of a maximum security prison, the men who participate in the theater group learn to ‘trust the process,’ doing visualization exercises, uncovering their emotions to access their characters and, just as importantly, to have authentic and caring relationships with each other. When one newbie calls another guy the N word, the latter teaches him that here they call each other Beloved.