User reviews

Sing Sing is a 2024 prison drama biopic starring Colman Domingo as a prisoner for a crime he didn't take part in, and for his life sentence decides to make a theatre programme for the prisoners that goes on for years until a man agreeing to apply changes the usual dynamic.

While impressively acted by a very talented actor, Mr Domingo does not fit very well with his cast that mostly consists of the actual theatre group (which I respect). Why is this the case? Well, he completely overshadows his entire cast and doesn't give any of them an opportunity to shine, quite similar to his character in the film, and when he's not there you are left with a group of unlikable prisoners that you don't care about.

And speaking of this, the film heavily lacks a background to most of the prisoners which is something that is completely necessary for a biopic. But due to the film's short runtime we are left with uncompleted work and boring cast I cannot resonate with, which pretty much destroys the biopic in general. However I will give some thumbs up to the prisoners in real life and how the film took it's time to respect them in the end, which is nice and also the gripping realism of the film is something I don't see too much in prison films so this was a good addition.

Overall, while the prison narrative and the good message of never giving up is certainly powerful, Sing Sing is a lackluster biopic that doesn't do much to keep afloat as it's repetitive boring-some dialogue and scenes makes you wonder why they didn't make it longer.

Grade: C+

Next review: Speak No Evil (2024)

Not a bad movie at all. Sing Sing is one of those biographical movies that tries to bring a good news story to the screen. Coleman Domingo is good no matter what he's doing, and the real-life prisoner actors do as good a job as a professional cast would. My problem is that it didn't all come together. The cinematography and dialogue are very much like a television biography, which pulled away from the core drama. The heavy focus on the acting/play pruned away from character development and a more complete picture of prison life. And the characters were all washed pretty clean; the lead is of course innocent, and everyone else is pretty devoid of evil despite being sentenced to do hard time in a maximum security prison. In the end, it didn't resonate emotionally with me at all which is a shame, because the underlying elements to do so are all there. It's a middle-of-the-road watch for me. You won't be sad that you sat through it, but you won't be moved the way something like this should move you.

Earlier in 2024 'Sing Sing' was looking like a real contender for Best Picture at the Oscars. It has since fallen away and in the end didn't even receive a nomination. And I can kind of see why. The film has very little going for it.

I usually love prison films and I fully expected to love this one, but it didn't do it for me at all. The whole movie requires you to a have a love for theatre and be fascinated by the process of producing one. I couldn't think of a more boring film subject if I tried.

Also all the drama in the movie feels very forced. It all stems because they let one toxic man into the production. Nothing feels natural about it. Oh what's his face is in a bad mood today, there's the next 20 minutes of our film taken care of.

I expected so much more from this film. I really thought this was going to be a banger. A disappointing 5/10.

Sing Sing

This was one of those "worthy" movies that come around during Oscar season hoping to mop up a sly award on the back of some trend or other. But to my mind this was a movie that they shouldn't have bothered making in the first place as it never really found its voice and never really had much to say in the first place.

The source material was a book about the success or otherwise of a prison programme, RTA, rehabilitation through the arts. As any clever movie buff can spot there is just insufficient here to make a movie from, no car chase, no action sequences, no romance or even bromance, no monumental vistas, just words, words and more words.

With an almost entirely black cast, we saw the six monthly cycle of forming, storming, norming and performing followed by some cobbled together hammy performance of some turgid play all with the hope to instilling some community spirit and positive outlook amongst the prisoners. This is all excellent stuff in situ and for the real life protagonists but as a viewer in a movie, this just did not work.

Coleman Domingo played the lead role of divine G, he really worked with the material, but it was beyond him to turn this turgid script of a pigs ear into a silk purse. Divine G. Was hoping that by demonstrating his commitment to the rehabilitation program he would be released, however when the board turned him down, he threw his rattle out of the pram. It was very unedifying. I am not sure I would've released him as he was on paper a convicted murderer.

Generally speaking rehabilitation programs, teach a trade or a skill to prisoners so that they don't fall back into their old lives, I'm not sure learning a Hamlet soliloquy will prevent someone from turning back to a life of crime. The movie set out to prove otherwise but I was left unconvinced.

Overall, this was rather a drab miserable unenlightening story of prison life with little story to grab the attention and was largely as dull as ditchwater.

The only good bit was the believable relationship between divine G and Clarence. This was excellent.

Overall, this is an 4 out of 10 at best and certainly there is no Oscar here.