SXSW 2024 Review: “Sing Sing” – A Masterful Production!

As the years pass, every critic has a list of their top movies of the year. Although this “greatest” list possesses some of the most elite filmmaking and storytelling, even the number one best movie of the year to one may not stand the test of time. As the next year comes, these top films may be replaced by others succumbing to their fifteen minutes of fame. Very rarely does a film come along that after experiencing it immediately takes a place in a critics heart for decades to come.

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Sing Sing is a maximum security prison that implements the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program allowing prisons regardless of good behavior or high academic standing to participate in stage productions within the prison walls. Based on the real-life prison, John “Divine G” Whitfield leads a group of prisons, along with professional teaching artist Brent Buell, to develop their own original production intended to give these men a space to exhibit their own emotions and pain together. Sing Sing is one of those rare films that made this critic remember why she fell in love with film over twenty years ago.

On a technical side, the film is as electric as the prison’s performances onstage. The way the editing and score go hand in hand brings tears to audiences eyes just from the beauty of the filmmaking alone. Sing Sing allows its tender moments to play out while basking in the joy the prisons feel as they are able to express themselves with other men in a safe environment. Kwedar and screenwriter Clint Bentley shoot the film in a way that distinguishes the prison environment as greatly different from the freedom other men have while also allowing it to be explored as a safe haven for vulnerability.

The supporting cast in Sing Sing is composed of all men who had previously been incarcerated, allowing for an authentic portrayal unlike anything Hollywood could have created. Coleman Domingo is breathtaking and as the film suggests, displays anger in times of struggle but his portrayal of genuine pain shows his immense talent as an actor.

In a world where men’s vulnerability is often said to be a strength, we are still shown time and time again they are rarely given a space to make this a reality. In the way that a production is structured, Kwedar and Bentley display how if men are given the opportunity to talk about and show their feelings in “dress rehearsals,” they will be equipped to display it on life’s stage.

As stated, Sing Sing script is rock solid. It hits certain beats that are known to make audiences empathize with our characters but it also incorporates some of the most powerful themes as they relate to prisoners. No moment in the film is wasted where every line of dialogue is essential to understanding the mindset of these men and how they don’t have the same luxuries of time as others may have.

One of the opening scenes of the film shows the prisoners basking in their on stage achievement from the night before, only for John to remind them that they must think of their next production to put on. This small detail brings about a powerful concept in the film of the dangers of living in the moment and basking in the past, ideas that often cause these men to lose hope in the significance of these moments when their personal eternities are set in stone.

In the same way people who live in “freedom” experience addiction, regret, and more outside of prison walls, the same concept remains, those stuck in their own minds must keep moving forward, sometimes to save their own lives.

The real life RTA program is run with the intention to provide help to those who need it most in all facets of their lives. In the same way that John and the program are set up to help others, Kwedar and Buell never forget the importance of accepting help. Although accepting help can be difficult and make prisoners, especially, feel like a burden with an inability to control their own lives, John’s character is explored in a way that shows how those who help others the most are sometimes the ones who won’t accept help themselves.

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When a community is able to be built of men dealing with their own and shared obstacles, this union has the ability to make an everlasting change, the way the real life RTA has, with only 3% of participants re-entering prison after they get out. For some it may be too early to say, but to this critic Sing Sing will likely be one, if not the best film all year.

‘Sing Sing’ Rating – 5/5

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