Sing Sing

‘The jaws of darkness do devour it up. So quick bright things come to confusion.’  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare

Divine G (Colman Domingo, "Rustin") is one of an orderly stream of men descending from B Block, but unlike most he is headed to a steering committee meeting of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a program he helped found.  Five men, including the group’s unincarcerated mentor and stage director Brent Buell (Paul Raci, "Sound of Metal"), will discuss who should be the next to be admitted to the group which encourages men to explore and express their feelings through the art of acting, something usually denied the denizens of “Sing Sing.”

Laura's Review: B+

Filmmakers Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley ("Jockey") dove so far into research for this film, they joined the RTA program, teaching filmmaking at Greenhaven Maximum Security Prison before beginning to write the screenplay they would eventually refine with Buell, John “Divine G” Whitfield (played here by Domingo), who became their focus, and Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, who, like 85% of their cast, is a former incarcerated graduate of RTA.  The film alternates between intimate conversations and group dynamics which often feel workshopped, dramatic events like the death of a major character presented suddenly, adding to the film’s authenticity.

G and his best friend Mike Mike (Sean San José) watch Divine Eye hustling another inmate in the yard for supposedly owed drug money as they wait to meet with him about his application to join RTA, G suggesting Eye’s tough guy stance is already a performance.  But he’s really excited when Eye quotes a line from ‘King Lear,’ explaining what it means to him in his own rough way.  G can see Eye’s got something, but he will prove a tough, if worthy, nut to crack.

It is no surprise that the Oscar-nominated Domingo gives a multi-layered performance here, creating a man of great emotional wisdom when leading others but fallible when confronting his own obstacles (we learn quite a ways in that he is innocent of the murder charge which landed him in Sing Sing).  He allows glimmers of ambition and pride to shine through but tamps them down for the greater good.  The big surprise here, though, is Maclin, who has a kind of rough-edged Terrance Howard thing going on and pairs perfectly with the more experienced actor.  Playing himself, he gives us a man who puts up a tough front and resents the success of G given his own early labeling as a ‘thug,’ but his innate intelligence allows light to shine in and he gradually not only drops the wall he’s built but opens up enough to help the man who helped him.

Also perfectly cast is Raci, whose no nonsense calm guides the group through several rough patches and whose humor is a much needed antidote to pain.  We will watch him stage Buell’s own play, 'Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code,' a comedy that allows a time traveling Egyptian prince to cross paths with everyone from Hamlet to Captain Hook.

Kwedar and Bentley couldn’t shoot in Sing Sing itself, so they located a nearby decommissioned correctional facility, utilizing cutaways of the commuter rail that divides Sing Sing as a constant reminder of life outside.  Parole board hearings deliver freedom in a slim manila envelope, denials in thick packets, but even Divine G must remind himself to keep trying.

A24 opened "Sing Sing" in select theaters on 7/12/24.  It opens nationwide on 8/2/24.