"Slam" is a breaking-the-cycle story with a heavy usage of rap and poetry to deliver its message. The word "slam" itself is just a shortening of the term poetry slam.
The main character is Ray Joshua (Saul Williams) and the movie takes place in D.C. Joshua is a small time weed dealer who gets popped with a quarter pound of marijuana on his person. While in jail he's faced with two warring gangs and the decision of joining one or the other. With the help of a language arts teacher in the jail named Lauren Bell (Sonja Sohn), Joshua comes to the realization that the thugging he and his folks are doing is the real prison and someone has to be the first one to stop.
This movie has a greater appeal to those into rap and, more specifically, into poetry. It seems that Ray and others use almost any opportunity to convey a message, a feeling, or a state of being in poetry form. The film has a realness to it that you won't see in many Hollywood movies. It is an indie flick filmed with low-grade cameras in unaltered urban and prison terrain. I appreciate the message of the movie, and even though I'm not a poetry buff, a lot of the verses were bangin'.
The main character is Ray Joshua (Saul Williams) and the movie takes place in D.C. Joshua is a small time weed dealer who gets popped with a quarter pound of marijuana on his person. While in jail he's faced with two warring gangs and the decision of joining one or the other. With the help of a language arts teacher in the jail named Lauren Bell (Sonja Sohn), Joshua comes to the realization that the thugging he and his folks are doing is the real prison and someone has to be the first one to stop.
This movie has a greater appeal to those into rap and, more specifically, into poetry. It seems that Ray and others use almost any opportunity to convey a message, a feeling, or a state of being in poetry form. The film has a realness to it that you won't see in many Hollywood movies. It is an indie flick filmed with low-grade cameras in unaltered urban and prison terrain. I appreciate the message of the movie, and even though I'm not a poetry buff, a lot of the verses were bangin'.