Movie Review: Colman Domingo Soars in 'Sing Sing'

Sing Sing

Directed by Greg Kwedar

Written by Craig Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Starring Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin

Release Date July 12th, 2024

Published January 16th, 2025

Sing Sing follows the story of a group of men incarcerated at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility who have found a unique way to rehabilitate and find new purpose and meaning. The inmates are part of a theater troupe that uses the art of theater and acting to give these men the space to explore their emotions, their frustrations, and the aspirations for when they may no longer be behind bars. The spiritual leader of the troupe is Divine G (Colman Domingo), a man who fully believes that he was wrongly incarcerated but has nevertheless dedicated himself to healing through art.

Divine G has written plays for the group and has been the lead actor in a number of productions. He’s also the lead recruiter for the group, always with an eye on the yard looking for a lost soul who might benefit from this unique art therapy. The most recent inmate to catch G’s attention is known as Divine Eye, aka, Clarence Maclin (played by real life former inmate Clarence Maclin). It’s unclear exactly what G sees in Divine Eye but he nevertheless pursues the young man and slowly draws him into their circle.

Though G has succeeded in bringing Eye into the group, he soon begins to resent his new protege as Eye thrives in the group. Meanwhile, Buell (Paul Raci), the leader of the theater troupe, has challenged them to come up with a new original play, a complete departure from the Shakespearean dramas that have made G their star. Buell wants the group to try their hand at an absurdist comedy and takes to writing a strange piece called Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code. This shift was also prompted by Divine Eye who ends up with a leading role while G, who struggles with the comedic aspect of the play, is forced to accept a smaller role.

You may be assuming that this is building toward a dramatic or violent conflict between G and Divine Eye but that is not the kind of movie that Sing Sing intends to be. Sing Sing, as directed by Greg Kwedar, and co-written by Kwedar and Craig Bentley from a story inspired by Clarence Maclin, has no interest in prison movie cliches. Though it sets up a very obvious path, the film chooses to focus on healing, art, and humanity over the familiar tropes of other, similar, prison set dramas. The center of Sing Sing is the friendship and developing bond between G and Eye who, though there are resentments and misunderstandings, become like brothers.

Colman Domingo is one of the finest actors working today. Though you can describe his work as theatrical, Domingo has the charisma to make his big personality feel authentic rather than a function of performance. Domingo’s big wide smile and bright eyes project warmth, intelligence and compassion effortlessly. His expressive face is a map of a life lived to the fullest, filled with experiences that he shares eagerly and effortlessly through his performances. I’m a bit biased in Domingo’s favor, I will admit. I’ve interviewed Colman Domingo on the radio a few times and his astonishing ability to recall our previous conversations, as well as my name, as if we were the oldest of friends, has made me a lifelong fan.

Clarence Maclin is the revelation of Sing Sing. He’s a real survivor of time behind bars and a real participant in the theater company that inspired the film. He’d had no acting experience prior to prison but his embracing of the experience and the growth and healing experienced via his time in the real life Sing Sing theater group has turned him into a remarkable actor. It might seem to the uninitiated that calling upon such real life experiences would make acting easy but that’s only how non-actors see it. Maclin’s ability to plumb the depths of his life and bring forward hard truths and confront personal demons and trauma, is far from easy. Being vulnerable is the key to Maclin’s performance and it’s exactly the trait you’re not supposed to have while behind bars. There is far more complexity and depth to Maclin’s performance than simply mimicking his real life experiences.

Sing Sing is a broad and emotional film that taps the theater experience to get at the heart of what it means to be vulnerable, to open yourself up emotionally in ways society encourages us not to do. And if society is uncomfortable with open expression of complex emotions, you can only imagine how prison magnifies that discomfort. The fact that prisoners in Sing Sing Correctional Facility had the courage and gumption to put themselves out there as performers and willingly make themselves vulnerable is a remarkable feat and Sing Sing the movie captures the essence of their bravery beautifully.

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