Sing Sing (2024, dir. Greg Kwedar)

by Jack Martin | Aug 28, 2024

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 106 mins

UK Distributor: Black Bear Films

UK Release Date: 30 August 2024

WHO’S IN SING SING?

Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San José, Paul Raci, David Giraudy, Patrick Griffin, Jon-Adrian Velazquez, Sean Johnson

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Greg Kwedar (director, writer, producer), Clint Bentley (writer, producer), Monique Walton (producer), Bryce Dessner (composer), Pat Scola (cinematographer), Parker Laramie (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A group of prison inmates find solace in a theatre rehabilitation program…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SING SING?

During the 2007 Oscars ceremony, Will Ferrell co-performed a musical number lamenting the lack of recognition for comedic actors, and jokingly stated that in order to be taken seriously, he’ll take on the role of a guy “with no arms and legs who teaches gangbangers Hamlet.” Though satirical in nature, I like to think that the skit actually half-predicted director and co-writer Greg Kwendar’s Sing Sing, a film that may not feature an inspirational teacher who’s also a quadruple amputee, but certainly features a lot of people from criminal backgrounds immersing themselves in the works of Shakespeare.

But in something of a full-circle moment, Sing Sing is a film that you can very well expect to do fairly well at this upcoming Oscars, for it is an astounding feature that plays into exactly why the arts are something to be revered (something that the Academy will no doubt lap up like fresh milk), and offers an exceptionally human look at incarcerated life that’s unique but no less heartbreaking.

The film is set entirely within the confounds of Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where the inmates endure life behind barbed wires. A small group of prisoners, including John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo), have signed up for the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, wherein they come together to perform a variety of plays and monologues, and express themselves through the art of acting and stage performance. After doing a number of Shakespeare plays, the group – as led by program leader and director Brent Buell (Paul Raci) – decides to develop their own original play: a time-travel comedy involving Egyptian mummies, Roman gladiators, and even Prince Hamlet of Denmark. As he assists the group with staging their unique show, Divine G builds a steady friendship with fellow inmate “Divine Eye” (Clarence Maclin), a newcomer to the RTA who puts his fierce prison yard mentality to strong and powerful use.

It seems easy at first to compare Sing Sing to other prison dramas like The Shawshank Redemption or Starred Up, but Kwedar’s film – which the director co-wrote with Clint Bentley – wisely steers clear of tropes associated with general prison movies. There are no prison brawls, no corrupt guards or officials, and not even a daring escape from the air-tight facility. Any kind of confrontation that you’d expect to see in this kind of film is largely reserved for the stage itself, with the performing inmates pouring their hearts and souls into bringing their characters to life, even if it means letting out some of their anger that they’ve brought into the facility with them. That is part of the beauty behind Kwedar’s direction, as well as his and Bentley’s script, for the filmmaker gently unearths the raw soul in each and every one of these people, allowing them the space to be vulnerable and free of judgement for the crimes that put them there in the first place. You feel for each and every single person here as a result, because Kwedar humanises them to such an extent that you genuinely enjoy watching their playful attributes shine at every available opportunity.

Funnily enough, the film I was thinking about most whilst watching Sing Sing wasn’t another prison movie, but rather Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, a film which also takes a dramatic yet strikingly documentarian look at a very real collective of people on the outskirts of society that the filmmaker expresses great empathy for. This approach works here too, for Kwedar and cinematographer Pat Scola employ a grainy fly-on-the-wall aesthetic that hovers around the characters – many of whom, including an outstanding Clarence Maclin, are played by actual former inmates from the real-life RTA prison program – as they naturalistically communicate with one another about what the RTA means to them, why it’s important for their rehabilitation, and how they utilise it for their own sense of redemption or even escapism. Again, you care so much for them because they feel so real, not to mention that the performances are all-around excellent, including a never-better Colman Domingo who forms the lovable heart of the film in so many ways.

Like Nomadland before it, Sing Sing doubles down on its authenticity to where you do start to wonder at times if it actually is just documentary footage that you’re watching instead of scripted drama. Even moments surrounding certain characters later on which would otherwise be played up or stretched out for melodramatic effect are firmly grounded in reality, with the suddenness of them creating a fierce gut-punch that really leaves you in more of an emotional state than if it were executed via more traditional methods. Kwedar, along with his formidable ensemble cast and a powerful musical score by Bryce Dessner, swiftly guides you through the emotional journey without gripping your hand too tightly, allowing you to get caught up in the theatrics of the program at the same time as being won over by the underlying passion of its collaborators, all without making the mistake of coming across as too manipulative or, worse, inauthentic.

Of the top-tier films I’ve seen so far this year, and there have plenty of great ones, I don’t recall being quite as moved as I was during Sing Sing. It’s a film that puts a spring in your step, gives you all that you’d ever want from a legitimate human drama, and leaves you inspired to look at the arts from an entirely new perspective. It is by far one of the year’s best films, and also the only one where you’ll find Hamlet and Egyptian mummies sharing the stage in a way that actually makes bizarre sense. Now that is something that a movie starring Will Ferrell as a guy with no arms and legs who teaches gangbangers Hamlet could never do.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Sing Sing is an outstanding prison drama that carries plenty of humanity, guiding the viewer through an emotional look at the rehabilitative powers of the arts with authenticity to spare within the documentarian filmmaking and naturalistic performances.