Tweet
Review by James Lindorf
Last year, Colman Domingo was infuriatingly good as Mister in “The Color Purple,” but he was my pick as the Oscar winner for Best Actor in a Lead Performance for “Rustin.” Cillian Murphy is incredibly talented, but that whole film was light on emotion, and nobody brought that like Domingo. He is back at it this year, turning in another powerhouse performance in A24’s new film “Sing Sing.” The film opened in a limited number of markets on July 12th but is expected to roll out in more cities.
Divine G (Colman Domingo) is a real-life Andy Dufresne. He is in jail for a crime he says he didn’t commit; someone else may have even confessed. Divine G helps other incarcerated men with their appeals and applications for parole; he even helped bring the arts to the prison. Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) provides these men who are often experiencing their darkest days a goal and a chance to transcend beyond the walls by embodying their characters. Given his position and previous relationship with the arts, Divine G is drawn to tragedies and other serious dramas. Divine G’s faith in the belief that the show must go on will be challenged when Divine Eye (Clarence Maclin) is allowed to join RTA at the start of its next season and encourages the men to perform their first original comedy, before challenging Divine G for the only dramatic role in the play. Many more challenges await Divine G and the rest of the cast and crew, threatening to tear their sanctuary apart before the curtain rises.
In a time when we as a society are finally coming to terms with the fact that men have real complex emotions, and sharing them and not bottling them up is the definition of manliness, the raw emotional honesty delivered by the entire cast is something to behold. Making it even more profound is that “Sing Sing” stars an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors who, at one time, we may have considered the least likely source of this enlightenment. So many scenes provide an opportunity for the cast to explore the complexities of life without your freedom and the mental toll it takes on the people within the prison walls. I don’t see any way that “Sing Sing” is not the clear front-runner for Best Ensemble at the next Screen Actors Guild Awards because everyone has a moment to shine, and it takes nothing away from the other performances.
The only real weak spot in the construction of “Sing Sing” is the pacing of the third act. There is another poignant scene with a former RTA member returning to Sing Sing after his parole that, while moving, interrupts our main story, slowing down the progress of the characters we have been following. Then, there is a moment when they start showing footage from a real RTA performance, and then it goes back to the story before showing actual footage again. It is a bit jarring because it seems like the film is over too soon, only for it not to be over. That is it; one extra great scene and an editing mistake are all that really separates “Sing Sing” from perfection, earning it an easy 4.5 out of 5.
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (Language)
Original Language: English
Director: Greg Kwedar
Written by: Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley
Based on: “The Sing Sing Follies” by John H. Richardson and “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” by Brent Buell
Story by: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, and John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
Distributor: A24
Production Co: Black Bear, Marfa Peach Company, Edith Productions
Release Date (Theaters): July 12th, 2024, Limited but expanding
Runtime: 1h 45m
