Prison Song (2001)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Darnell Martin

Writers:

Darnell Martin (written by) &
Q-Tip (written by)

Release Date:

27 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Lawyer | Policeman | Police Officer | Attorney

Cast

Q-Tip	...	Elijah Dixon
Eric McCollum	...	Thomas Wilson (as Eric 'Ace Money' McCollum)
Denee Rivera	...	Jolie Martinez
Justin 'DJ' Spaulding	...	Young Elijah
Mary J. Blige	...	Mom
Snow	...	Officer McIntyre
Danny Hoch	...	Harris
Robert Garcia	...	Brown (as 'Bobbito' Robert Garcia)
Hassan Johnson	...	Jay
Clay Da Raider	...	KT
Fat Joe	...	Big Pete
Harold Perrineau	...	Uncle Cee
Casper Martinez	...	C.O. Vilar (as Edil 'Casper' Martinez)
Jamie Hector	...	Phone Kid
Mateo Gómez	...	Mr. Gonzalez

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexual content.

Runtime:

USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia Prisons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Film was originally intended to be a full-fledged musical, but this tested poorly with audiences, so most of the musical numbers - except the most essential to the story - were cut. This helps explain the mysterious appearance of Elvis Costello in two roles in which he does very little.

Soundtrack:

Soul for Hire

A Musical Relief

I was told about this movie by a friend. He said it was one of the best movies he had seen. Unfortunately he told me the ending, but I won't spoil that for you...

"Prison Song" is a film about a boy brought up in group homes with a gift of art. He does beautiful drawings and is an excellent photographer. He is accepted to college and at first his gets a full scholarship but then something changes and it is taken away. This is one of the many times our principle character is let down. He gives up on his dream and gets angry. He ends up picking a fight with one of the boys from the group home and kills him. He ends up in jail 15 years to life.

The movie to me is a Musical Relief. Actors do break out into song or rap throughout the movie but fortunately this break from spoken word to words of rhythm and melody has a smooth transition. Transitions are so smooth that it seems almost real, like it was something anyone would do when reflecting.

Rapper, Q-tip, place the principle character and plays it well. Though he is quiet most of the time, the viewer will feel almost every emotion he does, even when his face is plain as a blank piece of paper. Through the film you grow to love the character and feel bad that things worked out the way they did. He is like many Black men, like many men period, talented but locked in jail.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a prison movie with a lot of heart in it. Characters are deep and the story line is rich.