Slam
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Movie Reviews of Slam
Movie Review: One of the best movies of 98
Summary: 5 Stars
There isn't much I can say about this movie but the fact that it has a great point to reach accross, and it does it so well. And to top it off, Saul plays an Oscar winning performence. One of the best movies I saw in 1998.Movie Review: Powerful!
Summary: 5 Stars
It stirs up so many emotions in you and that to me is what a true...Powerful! Film must do...and Slam does that and more....a must have!Movie Review: Watch this movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Great story line makes me fall in love with Saul Williams all over again.Movie Review: Very raw, leaves its' mark
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a pretty intense experience. I recently became a fan of Saul Williams, and I had to have this movie. It's a dark, yet learning experience for a man(Raymond Joshua) who gets sent to jail for possession, is hunted for on the inside, gets bailed out but realizes he's going right back. It seems like there are a lot of movies about prison and black folk, but this one was a little different.
I thought Saul did quite a job for this being his first movie role. I think it's based in large part on his real-life self. Some of the acting was an eyesore, like the Chinese guy at the beginning, good God! A few of the other small parts were iffy, but I think the main characters, who are all pretty much unheard of, did fine. The best scenes to me were when Ray was about to get his ass kicked in the prison yard and he busted out with an exhilirating rap, and when Ray and the prisoner in the next cell were rhyming. The latter shows a contrast between two distinct rapping styles. The other guy was swearing up a storm kicking violent gangsta rhymes, while Ray's was intense, but loving, etheral, mystical, and mind-bending. The other guy's style represents what gets played the most on the radio and is popular, while Ray's embodies an 'underground' attitude and the style that Hiphop was created with. I am a huge Hiphop guru, and I prefer Ray's style, obviously.
Otherwise, the movie leaves an impression, and gets you thinking about the ways of the inner-city lifestyle, as well as that in the prison. The poetry was what set this movie apart. Ray and the main female(forgot her name) perform at a poetry slam at the end of the movie. I wouldn't give this a five-star, but it's still good and worthwhile. I think it could have covered Ray's life more before he went to prison, and the ending kind-of left us hanging, or did it? I still don't understand what he was doing at the end. Like I said, "Slam" is a gritty, raw, uncut slice of the projects and the prison life. Cuss words are aplenty! It definitely hits it's points, and works well with the predominantly no-name cast. I liked the directing too. If you pass by this at the store and see it for a good price, go ahead, pick it up! It may not be one to watch with the kids though.
Movie Review: Powerful Poems and a Marion Barry Cameo... What's Not to Like?
Summary: 4 Stars
It's a sign of SLAM's verisimilitude that I thought it might be a documentary for its first five minutes or so. (Not surprising, since director Marc Levin is known for his documentary work.) With only a couple of exceptions, the actors in it are amateurs, which actually works to the film's advantage.
Anyway, SLAM is a simple, sometimes dopey, sometimes thrilling story of a guy who winds up in jail, gets out, and might be heading right back in again. But both Saul Williams, the principal actor, and his love interest, Sonja Sohn (of THE WIRE) are real live poets, and man, does it show when they do their poetry readings... or "slams" as they are known.
And I'll tell you what: SLAM has some scenes that will knock your socks off.
There's one in particular where our protagonist avoids a fatal shanking in the prison yard by giving a dramatic reading of his poetry. One of his fellow felons says of the performance, "I still don't know what that nigga did, but it was fascinatin'." That was pretty much my reaction, too.
SIDENOTE: Yeah, that's crack smoker, prostitute patron, and former mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry playing the judge. That was a cameo that blew my mind.