Slam
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Movie Reviews of Slam
Movie Review: One of the most vital films of the 90s
Summary: 4 Stars
Working in a video store, I've seen "Slam" repeatedly dismissed by white folks as "a black film", or "a movie about rappers". Please, don't let race distinctions turn you away from this film. "Slam" is one of the most noble uses of film I've seen in a long time. It challenges and provokes and creates intense thought. It is a ferociously intellectual movie, though not in a highbrow way. It has the unique ability to present complex and daunting ideas in a way that makes them unusually comprehensible. At the same time, it places a value on the process of writing and personal expression that has been woefully lost in the age of stuff-goes-boom movies. The performances - especially by Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, and Bonz Malone - are impeccable, and I'm not refering to just their dynamic slam poetry sessions, which are electrifying in a way that few passages of film are. If you see one movie this year, let it be "Slam".Movie Review: scary
Summary: 4 Stars
What happens to the main character in this film is really scary. But we know this kind of "slamming" of young brothers behind bars for nonsense charges really goes on with regularity in more cities than just Washington D.C., where this story is set. The prison scenes are stark, and streety characterizations are all too real. Great poetry by Saul Williams and the lovely Sonja Sohn, and the other brothers too. The ending made sense, but I still have questions about it. This is a real good film which should appeal to anyone who appreciates good story telling. I'm not necessarily a hip-hop or rap music enthusiast, but I liked this movie.Movie Review: Sham
Summary: 2 Stars
Poetry is the apotheosis of all literary forms; clarity and emotional honesty chiseled into words with incredible discipline, worked and reworked tirelessly until they communicate with elegance and precision. The relentless clanging of A/B rhyme portrayed in Slam bears as much resemblance to poetry as female mud wrestling in Berlin nightclubs bears to ballet.
But that's part of this film's larger tragedy. Raymond Joshua, Saul Williams, seems like the highly intelligent, sensitive kid who, in a better world, could really go places. But in his milieu rap is de rigueur, so his talents are wasted there, stifled by the astonishing limitations of the idiom. (How many rhymes for MF are there?) This said, Ray seems stunningly naive for a kid who grew up in the projects, his "dream" argument with Lauren, Sonja Sohn, late in the film, reflects worldly innocence a 12-year old might envy. This "man-child" theme, worked overly hard, is in jarring juxtaposition to the gritty realism of the film's first half, a stark look inside prison life.
No one in the film technically qualifies as an actor, and it shows. (Marion Barry's legendary impersonation of a Mayor comes closest.) This glaring deficiency is most evident when a prison guard delivers the movie's only memorable moment. He is clearly untrained, but manages to summon what no one else can, conviction, authenticity, and passion. In clearly defined terms, using a mathematical formula, he explains to Ray why he's so angry. It's all about the number of young black men in his prison, and how disproportionate that number is when compared to Washington's overall demographic. He breaks it down, and then expresses his pain felt witnessing the self-destructive cycle of drugs and street crime. It is a sharp moment that neatly punctuates all the gassy, preachy speeches characterizing most of this film.
What little chance the movie had of succeeding is lost completely in the third act, a bizarre blend of goopy love story and poetry slam funfest. The poetry slam is especially poor, the poetry itself is shabby and the crowd seems to have been bussed in from another movie set. Williams and Sohn are likeable, and do well considering their obvious lack of experience. The fault here lies with the script and the director. If Levin had played his cards right, he could have made one coherent, well structured lousy movie. Instead, what he managed to do was chop together unrelated sections of three lousy movies. The subject matter is serious and certainly deserved better than this.
Movie Review: Never Received
Summary: 1 Stars
I ordered this product over a month ago, And have yet to receive it. I E-mailed the company and got no response and Am very upset. It was a small amount of money, but it is the principle of the matter.