Word: slammed
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...film about a dope-dealing poet from the soul-squashing projects of Washington was a winner on the chic slopes and shores of this year's festivals. The poet-pusher is Ray Joshua, played by a scrawny charismatic named Saul Williams; and the film, Slam, arrives in theaters laden with laurels from Sundance and Cannes. Burdened, really, for this is a small movie, as vulnerable as it is volatile, about young black men in trouble. Its underworldly corrosiveness can't hide a heart full of hope...
...sounds complex, that's because it is. Or rather, Ray is a complex character--because he represents more than just one man's struggles. His are the problems of a people and of a nation, and this is what distinguishes the depth and importance of Slam. In the capital of a nation that abolished slavery more than 150 years ago, the black people of America still face problems and challenges which struggle to enslave them...
There are no concrete answers to these questions, and Slam does not seek any. Rather, it strives to present these issues in a way that is accurate and unapologetic. It's not fair that Ray was born into a form of modern day slavery. It's not fair that children on the street look up to him as a successful drug dealer. It's not fair that he is incarcerated along with a major percentage of the young black men in Washington, D.C. The point that this film tries to drive home is that solutions to these problems require action...
...important piece to the puzzle of Slam which cannot be overlooked is the superb craftsmanship of director Marc Levin. A veteran of documentaries, Levin employed a cinema verite style in this feature, utilizing non-actors and improvisation and filming over 90 percent of the movie with hand-held cameras. These directorial choices succeed in imbuing the film with a feeling of gritty realism, especially in the numerous jail sequences which were, justly, shot in Washington, D.C.'s correctional facility (as debatable a term as that is). Levin's choice of DJ Spooky's music for the soundtrack only intensifies...
...Slam is unreservedly recommended to anyone who wants to see how a great film can be made about a subject as complex as the struggle of modern African-Americans in an oppressive urban environment. The pieces to the puzzle of this problem are many and mated, but the finished product, a message of personal responsibility, is as clear as it is powerful...