Sing Sing

Today's movie was "Sing Sing" (2024), a prison-rehabilitation drama co-written and directed by Greg Kwedar, and based on a 2005 "Esquire" article, "The Sing Sing Follies," by John H. Richardson. It's showing in theaters.

My 7 of 10 review is at:

It's a prison-rehabilitation drama set in the 2010s in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility north of New York City. It builds a story on the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program that engages prisoners in a drama program in which they put on two plays per year. John Divine G Whitfield (Colman Domingo), one of the program's founders, has been in prison for about 15 years for a murder he denies committing while he was a drug dealer. The director of the Sing Sing program is Brent Buell (Paul Raci). We meet a variety of prisoners, especially Clarence Divine Eye Maclin (Himself), who is very hard-edged at the movie's beginning.

"Sing Sing" follows the development of the first comedy produced by the Sing Sing program, which involves time travel. We see conflicts, tragedy, and disappointments when hearings don't go as planned or an inmate dies suddenly.

The movie's "hook" is that most of the actors, former inmates engaged in the RTA program, play earlier versions of themselves in the film. This particularly includes Divine Eye Maclin. The real Divine G Whitfield, as does the real Brent Buell, has a small role.

"Sing Sing" is heartwarming and demonstrates that people can change. However, it also drags at times and has limited action. Clarence Maclin is amazing, and Colman Domingo does a fine job. Of the prisoners, I especially liked Sean Dino Johnson. Some obvious questions are not addressed, like how women show up in the final productions when none rehearse or are characters in the film.

7 of 10.