Sing Sing

Divine G (Colman Domingo) and Mike Mike (Sean San José) are on the "steering group" of inmates at the notorious maximum security prison Sing Sing that get to pick out people to be part of the "Rehabilitation Through the Arts" programme. Every six months RTA does a stage production for an audience of inmates.

Divine G suggests they bring in Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (himself) but the troubled drug dealer is sullen and disruptive claiming all their material is too serious and that they should do a comedy.

Unsure where to go with this the men throw in an absurd hotchpotch of ideas: cowboys, Egypt, pirates, time travel, Freddie Kruger and Hamlet but their external Director unexpectedly throws all this this into a script over a weekend.

Now all they've got to do is actually deliver it.

Based on real events in the RTA and with the bulk of the supporting cast former members, Greg Kwedar's movie brings stark authenticity to the sort of worthy filmmaking you'd expect from the premise.

As the newcomer grows, old hand G falls to pieces but there's little conventional prison drama. The men are who they are, where they are, for the reasons you'd expect and its just taken as a given.

Life affirming without saccharine sentimentality this is highly recommended 9/10.