Sing Sing review: “Colman Domingo’s soulful performance makes this prison story exciting and dark”

A deep US prison story that offers rehearsal room revelations rather than criminal yard fights, Greg Kwedar's haunting, grounded drama explores the redemptive power of community drama in the otherwise brutal life of maximum security Sing Sing prison.

Colman Domingos John, the talented head of the theatre company, finds himself challenged by the intelligent, unpredictable newcomer Eye (Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin), whose explosive rage (and the knife in his waistband) threatens to shut down the theatre company. A film that focuses on the prisoner rather than his crime, Sing Sing's grainy, up-close 16mm camerawork brings an intense intimacy to the friction-filled relationship of the main couple.