'Sing Sing' shows the power of art can't be confined
Colman Domingo leads powerful cast of ex-convicts in prison drama
Divine Eye proves himself to be a brilliant actor the very first time we see him in “Sing Sing.” Only he’s not on stage – yet.
The hardened inmate is first seen shaking down an unlucky new inmate in the yard of the movie’s titular maximum-security prison. At first, Eye (Clarence Maclin) politely asks the newbie for a favor, to hold on to a packet of drugs for him. But when Eye asks for the packet back, he accuses the inmate of switching the drugs for baby powder, and demands $500 in restitution. It’s a brilliant, harrowing performance, the menace thick under Eye’s faux outrage, so convincing that the terrified mark even seems to doubt reality.
Unflinching and deeply empathetic, “Sing Sing” is all about performances – the ones that conceal our true selves and the ones that can set them free. Inspired by an actual program at Sing Sing (and featuring many former inmates in the program playing themselves), it shows how making art can be an act of emancipation for its creators. Whether the art is seen by others – whether it’s even any good or not – is of secondary importance.
Colman Domingo looms large in the cast as Divine G, a successful playwright turned inmate who regularly writes plays for the group’s annual production. At first I worried that the Oscar nominee’s notoriety and sheer star power would overbalance “Sing Sing.” But it’s a canny casting choice. G is a star at the prison too, and has perhaps gotten a little too comfortable with his role as the troupe’s de factor A lister.
That status is challenged when the troupe votes against mounting his latest play, an earnest drama that sounds like a modern-day “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” in favor of a goofy time-traveling panto comedy. G is clearly disappointed and a little taken aback at seeing his work rejected, but he swallows his consternation. At least he’ll play the lead role, right?
But then Eye arrives. He’s a clearly dangerous inmate with a sleepy-eyed intensity that unnerves many of the other inmates. When he reluctantly auditions for the troupe (more to take advantage of the special perks offered by membership rather than by artistic curiosity) he brings a magnetic, chaotic energy to the stage that even G can’t deny.
As Eye's star rises in the eyes of the actors, G starts to spiral as he struggles to adjust to being overshadowed. It’s a little like “All About Eve” in prison grays. But if art isn’t meant to reveal the humanity of a hard man like Eye, then what is its purpose?
(Photos courtesy of A24 Films)
“Sing Sing” follows the production of the play from drafting the screenplay to opening night, under the tutelage of the troupe’s advisor (the warm-hearted and wonderful Paul Raci of “Sound of Metal.”) Much of the film feels more like documentary than drama, with Greg Kwedar using handheld cameras and natural light to capture these actors.
The film move from the warm camaraderie of the rehearsals to the cold isolation of the cells. The screenplay by Kwedar and Clint Bentley avoids over-dramatizing the conditions in the prison – when a death occurs, it’s by natural causes.
Instead, it focuses on the steady, suffocating dehumanization of life behind bars. These men have to spend their days looking down, eyes averted, just surviving. When these men step out on stage, and can finally look up into the lights, they are finally, if too briefly, free.
“Sing Sing” is now in theaters.