REVIEW: “Sing Sing” (2024)

WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on August 26, 2024. 

Based on the remarkable true story of the theatre program at the titular maximum security correctional facility and a few of the prisoners that occupy it, Sing Sing features actors Colman Domingo (as inmate/performer John “Divine G” Whitfield) and Paul Raci (as program director Brent Buell) in a cast that largely consists of real-life former inmates (playing themselves). 

The film follows the development of a new stage production through the “Rehabilitation Through the Arts” (RTA) program, with a majority vouching for and collaborating on an original comedy, with elements of time travel and historical figures thrown in—partially due to the fact that they (and the world in general) deal with drama every day. First-time actor Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin is a superb standout, giving a transformative performance among the infectious camaraderie and support of the other members. It’s a testament to the filmmakers and to the story’s authenticity, prose, and diversity. Not to mention a new spin on the old saying, “Dying is easy, but comedy is hard.” 

Sing Sing (which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023) is a raw story that balances harsh and profane realities with the power of the arts, including trusting the process and having a sense of freedom in performing. Many references to Shakespeare’s Hamlet are on display (“to be or not to be”), adding to the motif of who people pretend to be, what they could’ve been, who and what they lost or left behind/gave up, how the system views them, “roles” they identify with, who they really are, and who or what they could be.

With an evocative score by Bryce Dessner, this is a story that is, in equal measures, radiant and ethereal, bittersweet and redemptive, vulnerable and engaging. The film reminds us of what it is to be human, and that living again is possible—should we make the choice or even ask for help along the way. As one character says, “Who would’ve thought something like this would happen here?” This is one of the year’s best films, if not the best. 

The real Brent Buell was interviewed by Letterboxd earlier this summer, and he had this to say: “Here, we call our prisons ‘correctional facilities.’ They are camps of criminal punishment, and we break people down. We take away the things they cared for the most, and we don’t give them any tools to rebuild. And what theatre does is give a person the tools they need to begin to rebuild their lives.” Now that’s something to sing about. 

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