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"Slam," the typical tale of a black man living in the ghettos of Washington just doing whatever he can to survive. Marc Levin embarks on a film where a young black man Ray Joshua, played by Saul Williams, gets caught dealing after the man he was dealing with is shot. Ray later gets sentenced to jail for four years where his natural gift of slam poetry is embraced. In one encounter he finds himself developing feelings for Lauren Bell, a woman visits prison for poetry sessions, also shares a passion for slam poetry. Together, they find out how similar they really are, while Ray makes a decision of staying in the place that got him in the mess he's in now, or he takes a different way, the way that could free him from all his daily misery. The story is bland, far from what I hoped it to be. To me the most exciting scenes in the film were towards the end when a bunch of characters from the movie recited slam poems. Unfortunately, the film is just trying to show us how people who live in the ghetto, stay in the ghetto for the most part. They don't have aspirations of leaving because being sufficient to them means selling drugs to make a living. Ray, like many others have many forces that define who he is. For one, the poverty from where he is raised and currently lives is a force that is carried out throughout the film. Another force would be the "because you are black and poor, there's no place for you outside of the ghetto." The negativity that discriminating people have for African-Americans triggers Ray. Even though I believe that this film was a repetition of what struggling black people in the ghettos go through on an everyday basis, I feel like the integration of poetry into his life gave a little piece of hope that many could have just thrown it away. All in all I didn't think the quality of the film was all that great. It seemed like I was watching a live documentary being shot from a regular video recorder. I personally don't like movies that finish open-ended, but for others it gives them a way to imagine how the film would have ended having had them as the director. In part the message of the film is trying to tell us is that no matter how poor conditions you were brought up in, there is a way to break out and find that good-positive path that deep down inside everyone wished they had. Sadly, the message is never really concluded because we don't know what Ray ends up deciding on. If you like the typical lost and confused boy who doesn't know where and who to turn to in the beginning, ends up ruining his life in the middle, and ends up somewhat saving his life again—then you'll like "Slam."

This movie is amazing! If you haven't seen it yet, run to the video store and snag it. If they don't have it, demand that they carry the movie (call them ignorant and say things like, "don't you know this is one of the most important and poignant movies of our time, you uncultured @sswhole?). The movie, about a young, Washington DC native, black poet who sells marijuana to finance his writing, combines politically charged slam poetry, hip-hop, and slick cinematography to paint a compelling portrait of the struggles of poor black males and the United State's prison system. It does the best job of any movie I've seen at highlighting the racism and injustice of our country's prison system. Some may be discouraged from seeing this movie because they may find the double meaning of 'Slam' cheesy (slam poetry and the sound the prison doors). Don't be one of those people! If you're like me, "Slam" will move you, turn you into an instant fan of Slam poetry, and, most importantly, force you to think about issues bigger than yourself. It is one of the few movies that can change the way the viewer sees the world.

Slam, with all of its promises of being a life-changing event, is mostly a severely over-hyped little film that had the luck to catch the eye of a few important critics. I expected the movie to be centered around the creative wordplay of the protagonist, but this only comprises a small amount of the 100 minute running time, the rest of the story being little more than another entry into the tired genre of inner-city-youth-making-his-way-into-the-world films. Simply put, there just isn't enough poetry. The directing, by documentary filmmaker Marc Levin, is mostly sophomoric, employing grating montages of zoom shots in the streets, and stagy action. The dialogue, too, even though it would seem that the hand-held camera would add a sense of reality, seems stilted and scripted. The acting is good, especially in the case of Saul Williams in the lead, although his speech is far too refined for a D.C. drug runner. Sonja Sohn radiates a few minutes of power as his creative writing girlfriend, although she seems a tad too self-absorbed to be the caring individual her character is supposed to be. The rest of the cast is mostly comprised of amateurs, and it shows. Overall, I found this film to be boring and pointless, but for some reason it has a strong following. Go figure.

Without Saul Williams this film could not have been made. Its as if it was tailor made for William's awesome rapping talents without which the film would be pointless. This film is definitely a milestone in black cinema. Its fresh, breathtaking, original, powerful and 'takes no prisoners' (mind the pun). And a couple of word about the soundtrack - the ever excellent DJ Spooky takes the credits combining the most powerful hip hop outfits around, to create an intensive soundtrack which completes this film and leaves you open jawed.

When I started watching this movie, I expected it would be another of the "I don't stand a chance because I'm black" movies.Instead it dealt with the full breath of human feelings in situations where some are very much deprived. I have never seen a movie where the acting was better down to the most minor character. The director undoubtedly brought out the best in each. All the acting was great and especially the main character performed by Saul Williams. If anyone said that they enjoyed this movie I would conclude that they were mentally deficient. It is a movie that everyone would in discomfort, be glad they saw. The only fault I found, was during the only sex scene where for 7 seconds the director felt that he had to comply with what must be a Hollywood law in showing candles burning in the background during sex. Does Hollywood think this is necessary for romance? Why get corny when the rest of the movie was so realistic?

Really good and believable script, atmosphere and flow, very well acted. It doesn't even matter if the camera crew is totally visible in many pictures in one guys mirror-sun glasses. This is definitely one of the best "hood" movies of the nineties. It's also shows you a different kind of hood that you're used to: OK there's some drug selling and rapping, but that's the reality, and reality is what these movies are about. But that's only the beginning: This film grows to be really deep and interesting story about generations, art making (=self-expression), life goals, and the Tragedy of the contemporary world. In this film, for example the rapping thing is portrayed quite funnily; It's more real, in other words also more sad and also more serious, than in the other movies. This film shows what rap, and any kind of art and self-expression is: It's about salvation, it's about ideals, it's about dreaming, it's about rising above. It's about creating your OWN world inside or outside, or above, the world which you don't like and don't wanna support. It's about prisons of the mind that you or some other people have created in your mind which you gotta grow out of to be free. It's a story of courage. It's about miracle of life. This film really shows what it's all about, if someone already don't know. It's a PEOPLE's culture. The MTV and money sh** don't have and will never have anything to do with it. It's a people's way of expressing themselves in their communities. And this film shows it all real beautifully. One of the best movies about artist's life too. It also grows to be a beautiful love story. In all ways it's better than all it's parts combined and all hopes imagined. It's not the best acted film in the world, like some reviewer said, but it might at the top level among the other best. The film is also very nicely shot. It doesn't actually feel like a documentary, but more like what it really is: Quite cheaply and simply (=that means freely) made self-expression. You can feel the joy of the making. I don't have to even mention that the soundtrack is great: One of the best. The world needs this kind of movies. (Or does it?...) At least somebody's world does. Somebody else's world might need movies that glorify violence. This is not that kind of movie. This is not 50 cent. This is not death. This is life.

i was pretty captivated by the story - i think i especially liked the end of the film. it made me want to know what happened afterwards to this poor fellow. it is a terrible story and one that has not been told enough i think. it is very nicely shot as well.

source: Slam

Fantastic performances, a good story and interesting photography make Slam a very good movie; realism makes it a great one. I was in awe of the utter authenticity of the people, the situations, the energies in this film. I was suitably impressed by the emotions expressed and how effective it all was, for essentially a minimalist message (the odds are stacked against young black males in the inner cities) but even more impressed once I listened to the commentary on the DVD. I highly recommend you get your hands on the disc, and listen to the commentary after watching the film. Sure, it's a bit too self-congratulatory ("what a beautiful shot!" [it was only "nice"]) but the insight on the people involved--the writers, actors, poets... adds an incredible amount of depth to the experience. To quickly generalize: if you appreciate Spike Lee's work, you'll probably like Slam. Although Spike might be a little upset that a white Jewish director brought this to film :-)