The Shawshank Redemption. The minute that 1994 masterpiece went on TNT, it became the gold standard that we would compare to all other prison movies. In fact it was so good, moviemakers mostly gave up on normal prisons and started adding rosewater, horses, or space so no one could compare their film to the Morgan Freeman/Tim Robbins Classic. Sing Sing dares to take aim at the prestige of Shawshank, and shockingly, hits hard enough that the comparison actually is justified! What a win for Colman Domingo and prison arts programs everywhere!
For the young’uns out there, Sing Sing is a prison located in upstate New York. There resides Divine G (John Whitfield, played by Colman Domingo), an inmate who lives for artistic expression. He and sponsor Brent Buell (Paul Raci) run the prison theater program, where inmates put on 1-2 plays a year, with Divine G either the lead or the playwright. This particular year, a new inmate, Divine Eye (Clarence Maclin, playing himself) has taken his “lord of the yard” energy and decided it’s time for a comedy, which Divine G sucks at writing and acting in. As a result, Divine Eye gets the lead, with G in a supporting role, and helping Brent with the production…and maybe helping Eye learn the ways of the thespian.
Sing Sing’s success is due to the story it’s telling. Basically the goal of every prison film is to get out of the prison, right? While the inmates in Sing Sing do want out, that’s not the movie’s goal. In this case, we’re going to the theater and putting on a show! That means we can throw out all sorts of prison tropes: vicious guards, a nasty warden, and most importantly, a need to make the film ONLY serious out of respect. I mean, when you watch Divine Eye go up and do the “To Be or Not to Be” speech on his terms, that’s such an unlikely pairing you can’t help but chuckle a bit right? That severe juxtaposing of acting lessons with prison life is actually the driving fuel of Sing Sing, as our characters throw themselves 100% into this insane production of a hodgepodge of stories: Hamlet. Freddy Krueger? Time Travel?? Ancient Egypt??? It gives the audience a chance to exhale and have a little fun inside a place that on the surface would seem like it only sucks fun out of everyone.
But that story means we have to spend a LOT of time with prison inmates. You know, the most violent, terrifying people on the Earth according to any news story you see. Like all the great prison films though, Sing Sing blasts through stereotypes of a prisoner and gives us real people. No, seriously. Other than Colman Domingo, everyone else in this movie is playing themselves. Dap, Preme, Dino; even the real Divine G makes a cameo. Each of the non actors gets 1 or 2 incredible moments to show off their stuff, and come off honest and wholly unique from their other inmates, but almost universally leaving the audience wanting more. Still, for any doubters out there, you won’t be once Clarence Maclin saunters onscreen. While Colman Domingo is the Oscar Nominee, Maclin feels like he has 10 Oscars already, crafting one of the more interesting characters I’ve seen this year. He and Domingo are dynamite together, this movie’s buddy dramedy. When it comes to the play stuff, all the scenes with the two of them are pretty hilarious, using a sauntering Maclin doing Shakespeare cutting to an incredulous Domingo, as bewildered as the audience is. Offstage, the two are even better, as the acting exercises in the movie force them to open up to and trust one another, going against both of their instincts. The more they learn about each other, the more invested we become, especially as the real world starts creeping into the proceedings of Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll start getting a Sing Sing crossover universe? Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code becomes a massive Broadway hit, winning a zillion Tonys. It then gets movie adapted, winning all the Oscars as the CGI spectacle it clear is destined to be. My only wish is we keep Diving Eye, Dap, Mike Mike, Preme, Blaze, and Dino in the parts. Rarely do we get to see magnetic fresh faces like everyone starring in this movie, so let’s hit hard while the iron is hot!