“Sing Sing,” a genuinely moving highlight of 2024, makes most of the other dramas we’ve seen this year look like phonies. It has a few elements, a few moments, that edge into softer emotional territory than most previous prison films go anywhere near. That said, millions on this planet can’t hear the words “Shawshank Redemption” without welling up, and like that film, “Sing Sing” exerts a strong pull on the heartstrings — but without the hard sell or the crafty, manipulative exertion.
As a symbol of bleakness, Sing Sing, the place, was made for the movies, starting with the geographical irony of its location, affording a beautiful view of the Hudson River if only more of its residents could enjoy it. Between the tough, reform-minded early ’30s films such as “20,000 Years in Sing Sing” and later Hollywood features such as “Castle on the Hudson,” or a mere line or two of telling dialogue in, say, “Citizen Kane” (“I’m gonna send you to Sing Sing! Sing Sing, Gettys!”), the words Sing Sing work like a two-syllable damnation. The new film finds other sides to that damnation.
The Ossining, New York state correctional facility is one of several hosting the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, known as RTA. “Sing Sing” opens with its leading actor, Colman Domingo, one of our finest American screen talents, on a stage surrounded by darkness. It’s closing night of the latest RTA production: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Domingo plays the real-life John “Divine G” Whitfield, who in the Shakespeare play takes the role of Lysander, one of many characters sorting through a state of confusion and wonder.
Offstage, for these men, there is no curtain call. Whitfield, wrongly convicted of murder, has fresh evidence of his innocence and has one shot at a clemency hearing. Meantime, he serves a life of purpose as best he can, advocating and providing legal advice for his fellow Sing Sing residents. He’s also a champion and veteran of RTA’s Sing Sing theatrical program. The sublime Paul Raci, Chicago native and “Sound of Metal” Oscar nominee, plays the wise owl of a facilitator.
With Shakespeare behind them, what’s next? An original time-traveling historical fantasy, with cowboys, Freddy Krueger and various other archetypes. The central relationship in “Sing Sing” brings Whitfield together, and sometimes up against, a reluctant new addition to the RTA program, also, like Whitfield, nicknamed Divine. He’s played by Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who is very, very good. The push/pull friendship between these two navigates a scary range of despair, heavily guarded optimism and an often fraught rehearsal process for a truly nutty original play.
Many formerly incarcerated men appear as distillations of themselves in the “Sing Sing” cast. This sort of realism is not new to the movies, but here it’s far more than “authentic background” for a foreground peopled by terrific, seasoned actors led by Domingo, Raci and, as Whitfield’s cell neighbor and heartrending sounding board, Sean San José.
Rather, the ensemble players, however much or little screen time they’re given, emerge as whole and detailed human beings. The script by Clint Bentley and director Kwedar comes from two credited sources: “The Sing Sing Follies” by John H. Richardson and “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” by Brent Buell. Now and then there’s a narrative shortcut that could use some airing out, as in the introduction of Maclin’s character. But as this committed motley crew eyes opening night, and as Whitfield’s efforts to free himself reach a culmination, “Sing Sing” gathers steady momentum and a kind of easy-breathing honesty in a setting where there’s never enough air, or space, or hope.
This is not the first movie about the humane rewards of creative expression, by way of theater, inside prison walls. The 2012 Italian feature “Caesar Must Die,” among others, told a related story with a comparable blend of professional and non-professional performers. “Sing Sing” manages to tells its own story efficiently (about 100 minutes without the credits) but it knows the value of the rhythmic change-up. In the key role Domingo’s restraint here never for a second feels like passivity. He’s an actor who can expresses so much with so few external “tells.” It’s hard to imagine the movie with anyone else.
“Sing Sing” — 3.5 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: R (for language throughout)
Running time: 1:47
How to watch: Premieres in theaters Aug. 2
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
