Paul Raci Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Sing Sing’ (2024), starring Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San José and Paul Raci

July 12, 2024

by Carla Hay

Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin in “Sing Sing” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Sing Sing” (2024)

Directed by Greg Kwedar

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2005, at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, the dramatic film “Sing Sing” (inspired by true events) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few Latin people and white people) people who are in some way connected to Sing Sing.

Culture Clash: Several residents of Sing Sing become involved in doing a stage production of the original play “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code,” as they battle their own personal obstacles and insecurities.

Culture Audience: “Sing Sing” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Colman Domingo and unique dramas about the art of acting, where the actors happen to be in prison.

Paul Raci, Sean San José, Colman Domingo, Sean “Dino” Johnson and Mosi Eagle in “Sing Sing” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Sing Sing” is a wonderfully acted story about a group of people finding joy, vulnerability, and personal challenges in being stage actors. They happen to be residents of a prison, which affects them but doesn’t define who they are and their abilities. Colman Domingo gives another standout performance in a long list of first-rate performances that he has done on stage and on screen.

Directed by Greg Kwedar, “Sing Sing” is inspired by real people and true events. Kwedar co-wrote the “Sing Sing” screenplay with Clint Bentley. The screenplay is based on John H. Richardson’s 2005 non-fiction Esquire article “The Sing Sing Follies” and Brent Buell’s original play “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.” “Sing Sing” had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

“Sing Sing” tells the story of a group of residents at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, which is considered one of the toughest prisons in New York state. (Parts of the movie were filmed in the real Sing Sing.) The Sing Sing residents featured in the movie who participate in a nationwide program called Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), which gives people who live in prisons opportunities to become artists, such as being actors in stage productions that take place in the prisons.

Many of the actors in the “Sing Sing” cast are real-life RTA graduates. The RTA program has gotten media attention for having a positive effect on those who are incarcerated. According to RTA, about 60% of formerly incarcerated people in the U.S. return to prison, while only 5% of RTA graduates return to prison. RTA’s rehabilitation rate is impressive by any standard.

“Sing Sing” (which takes place in 2005) uses the real names of the real people who went through many of the experiences depicted in the film. Domingo has the starring role as John “Divine G” Whitfield, who was wrongfully convicted in 1988 of second-degree murder and illegal weapons possession. In the movie, Divine G (who was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder charge) has been trying to prove his innocence ever since. He has an upcoming clemency board hearing that is an emotional cornerstone for this movie.

Divine G is mild-mannered when it comes to most things, except for his passion for the arts. He is the unofficial leader of the plays that he and his fellow RTA colleagues act in at Sing Sing. Divine G is also playwright and a book author. His book “Money Grip,” an action-adventure story in an urban setting, is well-known in prison populations. There’s a scene in the movie where Divine G is asked by another Sing Sing resident (played by the real Whitfield) if Divine G can autograph this book, and a flattered Divine G willingly obliges. Before Divine G was incarcerated, he worked as a party/nightclub DJ.

The movie’s opening scene shows Divine G as the lead actor in the RTA production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The production gets praise, and the cast members are happy with their performance. However, Sing Sing’s RTA members are eager to do an original play, possibly a comedy. Some of the RTA members ask Divine G if they can act in his next play, but Divine G modestly says that the new play he’s been working on isn’t quite ready. This fictional play is called “A Fine Friend.” It’s about a music producer named Zahar Turner, who is betrayed by a friend who cons Zahar out of Zahar’s recording studio.

It just so happens that Sing Sing’s RTA director Brent Buell (played by Paul Raci), an outside worker who does not live at the prison, has written an original play called “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.” It’s a convoluted story about an Egyptian prince trying to find a mummy. The story has time traveling and the cast members portraying a mix of historical figures and characters created just for the play. The Shakespearean character Hamlet is one of the lead roles in “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.” Most of “Sing Sing” is about the production of “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code,” starring Sing Sing’s RTA members. The real Buell has a cameo role in “Sing Sing.”

“Sing Sing” features several people, but only three Sing Sing residents get the majority of the screen time and backstories explaining who they are. Divine G; his thoughtful cellmate Miguel “Mike Mike” Gascon (played by Sean San José); and a fairly new (and initially very hostile) Sing Sing resident named Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin. In real life, Maclin is formerly incarcerated non-professional actor who is portraying a version of himself in “Sing Sing.” Real-life RTA graduates who depict versions of themselves in the movie include David “Dap” Giraudy, Patrick “Preme” Griffin, Mosi Eagle, James “Big E” Williams, Sean “Dino” Johnson, Cornell “Nate” Alston and Camillo “Carmine” LoVacco.

Brent is the acting teacher and director for “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code,” but Divine G is more of a mentor who can speak in terms that his fellow RTA members can better understand. This difference in leadership styles can be seen in a skillfully acted scene where Brent tries to give instructions to Divine Eye on how Brent wants a scene to be played, but he does it in intellectual ways using psychology and formal acting terms that Divine Eye doesn’t really understand. Divine G asks to step in, and he explains the instructions in street vernacular, which clicks better with Divine Eye.

Are there any women in this very male-dominated movie? Yes, but only briefly. On a panel that that will decide whether or not the RTA members can stage ths production of “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code” at Sing Sing, there are a few unnamed women, played by Joanna Chan
Cecily Lyn and real-life RTA founder Katherine Vockins. There’s one unidentified woman who works with Brent who is one of the cast members, but her story is never told in the movie. The only woman with a significant speaking role in “Sing Sing” is the unnamed clemency board member (played by Sharon Washington) who asks Divine G the most questions during his clemency hearing.

Although “Sing Sing” has fantastic performances, the movie unrealistically avoids many of the racial issues that would definitely be part of the conversations in these prisons. If you were to believe everything in “Sing Sing,” a prison like Sing Sing doesn’t have gangs based on racial identities and no one talks about race. It’s a very oversimplified and unrealistic erasure of how race plays a huge role in alliances and enemies that exist in prisons.

Another example of the movie’s glossy and somewhat tone-deaf depiction of race relations in prison: Brent (who is white) never has his race mentioned in the movie. “Sing Sing” is yet another prison movie that shows a white person who has a leadership position over a group of prison residents who are mostly not white. Brent doesn’t really act like a condescending “white savior,” but he does have to win over the trust of some of this mostly African American group of RTA members who don’t know Brent very well.

The racial identities of people in this group absolutely have an effect on the relationships and dynamics in this group, but the “Sing Sing” movie is too timid to actually say this out loud when it would definitely be said out loud in a real-life prison. Instead, the movie has the Sing Sing residents speak in vague terms, such as “The system doesn’t care about us.”

There’s only one instance where there’s an overt display of racial tension: In an early scene in the movie, Divine Eye is in a prison yard when accosts an unnamed younger white man (played by Johnny Simmons) who lives at Sing Sing. Divine Eye accuses the man of giving him crushed aspirin instead of the unnamed narcotics that Divine Eye bought from this man. Divine Eye gets rough with the man (who denies knowing that the powder wasn’t a narcotic) and demands that this man return the $500 that Divine Eye gave this man for the drug deal.

In real life, word would get out in the prison about this incident, and the white supremacist gangs in the prison would have something to say and do about it. This reality is based on many books, documentaries and interviews that real Sing Sing residents have given that reveal what life in Sing Sing (and other similar prisons) are really like for people who live there. Instead, Divine Eye (who is not affiliated with any prison gang who would give him “protection”) faces no consequences.

The man who was accosted by Divine Eye is not seen again until later in the movie when he’s sitting by himself in a cafeteria, and Divine Eye glances over at the man with a hard stare. It makes you wonder why this scene of Divine Eye getting rough with this man even exists. It’s also seems like the “Sing Sing” filmmakers deliberately chose to have Divine Eye’s opponent be a white man in the only scene where Divine Eye bullies a stranger in prison, but then “Sing Sing” refused include any of the realistic racial talk that happens in prisons. Divine Eye loses his temper at other people (such as some of the RTA members), but he knows them, unlike this stranger who happens to be white.

Likewise, in its intention to present these Sing Sing residents as actors, the movie goes out of its way to erase any violence that takes place in a tough prison such as Sing Sing. And this has to be one of the most unrealistically quietest and cleanest “bad reputation” prisons you’ll ever see in a movie. There’s a scene where the camera pans slowly away at closed prison cell doors in Sing Sing, and there is complete silence, while the cell doors look as pristine as dorms rooms at an elite university. You don’t ever have to have been in Sing Sing or any similar prison to know how ridiculously peaceful this prison is depicted in the movie.

The RTA play rehearsals depicted in the movie are a combination of acting lessons and therapy sessions. Brent and some of the other RTA men keep repeating “Trust the process” as their mantra. And it should come as no surprise that the RTA members learn to break down emotional barriers in order to become closer and more honest with each other. It’s very easy to predict which RTA character will go through the biggest transformation as a person.

“Sing Sing” takes some abrupt and unexpected turns in the story that are meant to be absolute tearjerking moments. There are some heart-wrenching monlogues that give deep insight into the personal pain and struggles of these RTA members who are haunted by their pasts and either fear or have lost hope for what their future holds. The movie is filled with sensitive and poignant portrayals of how humanity and compassion can survive in prison.

All of the cast members give realistic and admirable performances, even though the “Sing Sing” movie has a much glossier depiction of Sing Sing prison life than what exists in reality. Perhaps this watered-down version of Sing Sing prison (where no one talks about racism/race relations, and violence in this prison is portrayed as almost non-existent) is meant to show that the RTA program was a “safe haven” for these Sing Sing residents. But a “safe haven” doesn’t have to be a “bubble” where filmmakers are afraid to have uncomfortable but realistic depictions of many harsh realities of prison life.

A24 released “Sing Sing” in select U.S. cinemas, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on August 2, 2024.

Review: ‘Sound of Metal,’ starring Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke

November 20, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Sound of Metal”

Directed by Darius Marder

Some language in French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the various parts of United States, the dramatic film “Sound of Metal” features a predominantly white cast (with some Asians, African Americans and Latinos) representing the middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A drummer in an industrial rock band loses his hearing and reluctantly moves into a group home for deaf people while secretly planning to break the home’s rules of getting surgery to try to regain his sense of hearing.

Culture Audience: “Sound of Metal” will appeal primarily to people who like well-acted dramas about people dealing with physical and emotional challenges.

Pictured clockwise from left to right: Paul Raci, Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke in “Sound of Metal” (Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios)

The absorbing and riveting drama “Sound of Metal” takes viewers on a topsy-turvy journey showing what it’s like to become deaf and how it completely alters the course of someone’s life. The movie’s outstanding sound editing and sound mixing completely immerse viewers into the experience of going between the world of people who have all of their hearing abilities and the world of people who are hearing-impaired. These two worlds are inhabited by the same person in “Sound of Metal,” which has superb acting from the cast members, who are from the hearing and deaf communities. It’s the type of movie that will have an impact on anyone who watches it.

Directed by Darius Marder, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Abraham Marder, “Sound of Metal” has frequent captions that appear on screen to describe background noises, as if the filmmakers were aware that many hearing-impaired people would be watching this movie. According to “The Sound of Metal” production notes, Darius Marder conceived the movie’s sound, while sound designer Nicolas Becker carried out what Darius Marder had in mind. There is no other movie released in 2020 that has more memorable, Oscar-worthy sound techniques than “Sound of Metal.”

The central character of the story is Ruben Stone, a heavily tattooed drummer for an alternative rock duo called Blackgammon, whose music is best described as post-industrial heavy metal. Blackgammon is self-financed and releases music independently. The music isn’t about melody but about conveying gloomy angst with loud, screeching guitar riffs and lots of amplifier feedback.

By any standard, Blackgammon’s music is hard on the ears. And it seems that Ruben has been playing this music without earplugs for years. Even when he starts to lose his hearing, he doesn’t wear earplugs. It’s later revealed in the story that Ruben is a recovering drug addict (heroin was his drug of choice) who’s been sober for the past four years.

Ruben’s live-in girlfriend Louise Berger (played by Olivia Cooke), nicknamed Lou and sometimes called Lulu by Ruben, is the lead singer/guitarist of Blackgammon. Lou is in her mid-to-late-20s and is about 10 years younger than Ruben. They live together in an Airstream RV, which also doubles as their tour bus. Ruben owns the RV and he does the driving. It’s unclear how long Ruben and Lou have been together as a couple or as band members. And it’s also not revealed how Lou and Ruben met, but it’s implied in the story that it’s been at least two years since they’ve been in each other’s lives.

Ruben and Lou have an easygoing relationship that suggests that they became friends first before they became lovers. He clearly adores her and dotes on her, because he’s the type of boyfriend who will make breakfast for her. Lou is more of the scheduler and planner in the relationship. She says later in the movie that she’s the band’s manager. And there are signs that Ruben is more of a “dreamer,” while Lou is more of a “realist.”

Later in the movie, it’s revealed that Lou comes from a wealthy family. Her decision to become the lead singer of a very non-commercial band that plays seedy bars and nightclubs has put a strain on her relationship with her divorced father Richard Berger (played by Mathieu Amalric), who lives in his native France. Lou’s parents divorced when she was a child, and she was raised by her mother in America. Tragically, Lou’s mother committed suicide, but it’s not made clear in the movie at what age Lou was when this tragedy happened. It seems to have occurred when Lou was under the age of 18.

As for Ruben’s family background, he was raised by a single mother too, but he never knew his father. In one of the movie’s early scenes, Ruben and Lou are in their bus, and he tells her that he used to imagine that Jeff Goldblum was his long-lost father, because Ruben thinks that he looks a lot like Goldbum. Ruben comments that he’s a fan of Goldblum, but if it were possible for Goldblum to be his father, it “explains a lot because the dude’s fucking weird.” Lou says that she used to think about her funeral in math class when she was in school.

This scene demonstrates that Ruben and Lou both have offbeat senses of humor, which is part of their attraction to each other. And based on their family histories and some of the things that happen later in the story, it’s also clear that there’s a “lost soul” aspect to their personalities. They want someone to fill a void, and they both found each other at the right moment to be that person for the other one in the relationship.

But their relationship is about to be tested in a big way, when Ruben discovers that he’s losing his hearing. At first, he seems to be in denial about it and he doesn’t tell Lou. However, Ruben seeks medical treatment and does hearing tests to find out what the problem is. The diagnosis isn’t good. His right ear has only 28% hearing capacity, while his left ear has only 24% hearing capacity.

The doctor tells Ruben that he must eliminate all exposure to loud noises. And when Ruben asks if there is any way to get his hearing back, the doctor says that cochlea implant surgery is possible, but it’s not covered by health insurance. And the cost of the surgery is about $40,000 to $80,000, which is money that Ruben does not have.

Ruben decides to continue life as he knows it and refuses to think about his career as a musician being over. He also decides he’s going to find a way to get enough money for the ear surgery. One night, while Blackgammon is performing at a nightclub, Ruben’s hearing problems become too difficult for him to bear. He walks off of the stage in the middle of the performance. Lou follows him outside, and that’s when Ruben tells her that he’s going deaf and about the ear surgery that he wants to have.

Lou’s immediate reaction is to help Ruben as much as possible. They had plans to do a tour and record an album, but Lou wants to cancel those plans and put Ruben’s health first. Ruben vehemently disagrees (perhaps because he’s still in denial about how serious his hearing problem is) and they argue about it. However, Ruben agrees to accompany Lou to a sober-living group home for deaf people to get information about the home and see if he would like to live there.

The group home’s manager is a tough-but-tender recovering alcoholic named Joe (played by Paul Raci), who’s a Vietnam War veteran who became deaf when a bomb went off near him during the war. Joe is welcoming to Ruben and Lou, but he is very clear that he will enforce the house’s strict rules for the residents, who are not allowed to have visitors or communicate with anyone outside the home. (Residents’ cell phones are confiscated when they check into this home.)

Ruben seems somewhat open to living in this home until he hears about the house rules. He thanks Joe for his time but says that the living arrangements aren’t acceptable and he won’t be staying there. However, Lou gives Ruben no choice but to stay in the group home when she suddenly makes plans to go away and tells Ruben that she will end their relationship if he doesn’t live in the group home and get the help that he needs.

Ruben is stunned and heartsick about Lou’s decision, but he doesn’t want to lose her, so he agrees to the plan. (The scene where Ruben and Lou say goodbye before she leaves for the airport is one of the best scenes in the film.) Ruben immediately feels like an outsider in the group home because he’s the only one who doesn’t know sign language. He will eventually learn American Sign Language (ASL), but in the back of his mind he has three goals: (1) Graduate from the house program; (2) Reunite with Lou; and (3) Get enough money to pay for the ear surgery.

During his stay in the group home, Ruben learns a lot more than sign language. He learns that that he’s not the worthless human being that he believed he was for most of his life. Part of the house program includes interacting with deaf students who are about 7 to 9 years old. Ruben attends their sign-language classes, which are led by a pretty and friendly teacher named Diane (played by Lauren Ridloff), who is patient and kind when teaching all of her students. (Ridloff and the students in the movie are deaf in real life.)

Ruben eventually uses his skills as a musician to bond with the children. It should come as no surprise that he eventually leads a drumming class for the students, with Diane also participating. And in order for Ruben to get in touch with his feelings, Joe tells Ruben to write down as much as he can.

As for the other group residents, they and Ruben take a while to get to know each other. Ruben keeps mostly to himself, but he ends up developing a friendship of sorts with a young lesbian named Jenn (played by Chelsea Lee), who asks Ruben to tattoo a naked woman on one of her back shoulders. Lou secretly keeps tabs on what Lou is doing by using the computer in Joe’s office and looking at social media.

Ahmed gives a stunning performance in depicting Ruben’s emotional trials and tribulations. The movie goes back and forth in depicting the sounds of what people with full hearing capabilities can hear in contrast to the sounds (or lack thereof) that Ruben experiences as he gradually goes deaf. It’s a transformation that will give people with full hearing abilities a greater understanding of the terror and isolation that someone must feel over hearing loss.

There’s also an overwhelming sense of powerlessness from Ruben, who knows that what’s happening is beyond his control and will permanently change the way he experiences the world, how he can communicate with other people, and how other people communicate with him. And if you factor in that Ruben is struggling with addiction issues, the movie will leave viewers on edge in seeing if Ruben will relapse or not during this new health crisis in his life. And there’s also the question if Lou will want to stay in the relationship with Ruben.

What “Sound of Metal” thankfully does not do is present deafness as something that should warrant pity. And it’s a condition that does not doom people to being less than fully formed human beings. One of the best things about the movie is that it shows how that Ruben’s gradual hearing loss actually forces him to look deep inside of himself and come to terms with who he is and how much he wants this hearing loss to define or change him.

It’s not an easy process, and Ruben goes through a lot of turmoil during this emotional journey. And as difficult as it must be for anyone in the group home to be cut off from their loved ones and the outside world, it’s a rule that seems understandable in the sense that loved ones could intentionally or unintentionally bring distractions or other baggage in the self-healing process. However, Ruben has a rebellious streak and defies the rules by sneaking off to use Joe’s computer to maintain some kind of online connection with Lou.

Cooke’s portrayal of Lou is also admirable in the way she depicts how she is also deeply affected by Ruben’s hearing loss. Although Lou isn’t in most of the movie, her presence is felt throughout the story because she’s the catalyst and motivation for Ruben trying to find a positive and healthy way to adjust to his new life as a deaf person. The movie shows what happens to Ruben and Lou as a couple in their touching love story.

According to the production notes for “Sound of Metal,” the movie was inspired in part by director Darius Marder’s deaf paternal grandmother, as well his editing work on director Derek Cianfrance’s unfinished docudrama “Metalhead,” about a real-life husband-and-wife rock duo named Jucifer and the husband’s struggle with hearing loss. Darius Marder also consulted with numerous members of the deaf community (ASL instructor Jeremy Stone was a chief consultant) to ensure accuracy in the film. All of that authenticity and acute attention to detail shine through in the movie.

The sounds and the silence are almost like other characters in the film. Muffled or garbled sounds that signal Ruben’s aural deterioration can also weigh heavily on his emotions. The silence of deafness unforgivingly limits Ruben’s world with invisible barriers but also unexpectedly opens up his world to new possibilities. Ruben finds that he has to rely on other senses and pay more attention to his surroundings and his inner rhythms when he can no longer depend on his hearing. More than anything, “Sound of Metal” is a great example of how losing the ability to hear doesn’t make anyone less of a person. And sometimes the best thing to listen to is one’s own instinct and conscience.

Amazon Studios released “Sound of Metal” in select U.S. cinemas on November 20, 2020. The movie’s Prime Video premiere is on December 4, 2020.