The first thing that struck me about “Sing Sing” was its beautiful 16mm film stock. Gorgeous as it is on its own, the film grain also adds a layer of warmth and dimension to the near-perfect cinematography work by Pat Scola that you would be hard-pressed to find in many other movies today. Even better, the visuals are paired with a soundtrack composed by Bryce Dessner, known for his work as part of the band The National, that is the perfect accompaniment for the story unfolding on screen.
“Sing Sing” is the story of the men of the Sing Sing Correctional Facility who are involved in the prison’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program. The front man of the group is wrongfully convicted playwright John “Divine G” Whitfield, played by Colman Domingo, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance — and he should have won it, too! Alongside Domingo are a few other professional actors, but most of the main cast of inmates are played by the men who were formerly incarcerated in the RTA program at Sing Sing together. Including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA Awards and whose performance is a towering display of the grief of incarceration and the power of acting.
This is the real beauty of “Sing Sing,” in my mind. It is a true story, but it doesn’t mercilessly beat you over the head with that fact like most movies that are lauded for being “based on a true story.” It simply invites you to watch a group of people experience the full range of human emotions in about an hour and 45 minutes. It is well sequenced, well directed, incredibly well written and deeply touching to watch. On top of all that, the viewer gets the privilege of watching the actors reenacting real events that happened to them while they were still in prison, a fact which brought me to tears a couple of times throughout the movie. Also, while John Divine G Whitfield doesn’t play himself in the film, he does have a small cameo in it and he was a story consultant along with Clarence Maclin, which is a really nice touch that makes the story feel that much more real and human.
I do have one very small gripe with this movie, which is that I wish we could have gotten to know some of the main characters outside of Divine G and Divine Eye just a little bit better and I would have been willing to watch an extra 30 minutes of this movie if that is what it would have taken. That being said, I don’t think it detracts from the impact of the film at all, it’s just a minor change I would have made if I were the director.
If you have two hours to spare this week, I highly recommend you to spend that time watching “Sing Sing.” I promise you will not regret it. It is one of the best, if not the best, movies that came out last year and it is a tragedy that it did not get a wide enough release for the average person to be able to go see it in theaters. It’s available now to stream on Max and rent on Amazon Prime Video. I implore you to do so. “Sing Sing” is a triumph of a movie for so many reasons, but the most important of which is its deep melancholy and achingly human look at the American prison system and the stories that come out of it.
