Slam [HD]

One of the most vital films of the 90s
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".

Very raw, leaves its' mark
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...

Powerful Poems and a Marion Barry Cameo... What's Not to Like?
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...

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