Sing Sing - Movie Review

Intro all right 1 two let's go got when the 2025 Oscar season rolls around you'll be hearing the name sing sing a lot despite its odd release schedule premiering at Tiff nearly a full year ago and just now making it to us independent theaters the movie is already being named as an early favorite for a bunch of Academy Award nominations including best picture and while that kind of buzz is usually saved for the stuffy art housee pieces this time it's welld deserved this is one of the best films of the year and you owe it to yourself to seek it out set in New York The Story Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison the film centers around the real life Rehabilitation through the arts program in which inmates form an acting troop and put on plays in musicals after spending months learning acting techniques dance directing and Stage craft the majority of the cast is made up of actual former program members and most of the scenes are scripted and shot as though you're listening in on real life conversations in build buildings that used to be actual prisons nearly every scene starts with the camera at a low angle at the opposite end of the room from the characters then switches to close-up shots at I level just as each actor opens themselves up to the vulnerability of Performing and since the actual onstage performances are mostly just seen in rehearsals it's those conversations that carry so much of the film's weight we hear from nearly a dozen former inmates as they reflect on how acting gave them this chance to reshape their lives offering them purpose and freedom while being trapped in a system designed to not let them Escape while there are countless movies about film making and Performing this is truly a celebration of acting one of the Colman Domingo's Performance few professional actors in the cast is Coleman Domingo who has to run the full emotional Gambit as he's not only the troops deao leader but is also attempting to prove his innocence from a wrongfully convicted murder charge that has him staring down a life sentence it's a powerful performance as he's hit over and over by the weight of his circumstances with a climax of the film not being any of the performances but rather his emotional breakdown and its Fallout but the true standout turns out How Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin Steals the Show to be Clarence Divine ey Macklin playing a younger version of himself he arrives as something of a stereotype a drug pedaling bully gangster having resigned himself to a life in prison and you're initially made to think he'll be the foil that brings down both Coleman and the troop as a whole but you're quickly reminded this isn't that kind of movie and his eventual embracing of the program on the road to his own Redemption makes for the film's best Arc having not seen enough of the early Oscar contenders as of this recording I can't say for certain if Domingo is a shoe in for best actor but I can't imagine a world where Macklin isn't up for best supporting actor stunning does not even begin to cover it this is one My Rating: See It! of those movies that'll have you crying both happy and sad tears whether it's watching these men discover their love for acting and embracing camaraderie through their performances or being hit by the tragic of a cast member suddenly passing it's not exploitative it doesn't wallow in the darker side of prison life and it's not here to try to change the justice system instead it chooses to hold up a mirror to the mundanity of the system's cruelty before showing the unbridled Joy Freedom brings whether it's literally or simply internally this is a wonderful film with some of the best performances you'll see this year however you can find a way to see it thanks for watching