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.RTS & ENTERTAINMEN
“Slam”: A gritty work of urban art
Spoken word movie may leave you speechless
By Jonathan Howard
A&E Editor
M ore documentary
than work of
fiction, the Marc
Levin-directed "Slam" takes
you on an unforgettable ride
from the projects of D.C., to
our nation's capital's prison
system, to Bohemian cafes —
all the while bombarding you
with verses from the
mouths of the best
spoken word poets in
America.
Exploding from the
Sundance Film Festival,
where it won the top
dramatic prize, onto the
Big Screen, "Slam" is
destined to be a critical
smash. It is definitely a
must-see (again and
again) movie.
Co-written and starring
Morehouse College alum and
poet, Saul Williams, and
queen of the spoken word,
Sonja Sohn, "Slam" is one of
those rare movies that allows
you to get lost in the depth of
the story.
Williams plays Raymond
Joshua, a small-time poet/
dealer who lives with his pen
The Soul of
Saul Williams
By Vernando Reuben
Staff Writer
Williams is the
quintessential renaissance man
— a published poet, an
accomplished actor and soon, a
recording artist.
This Morehouse grad's just
finished a book of poetry, "The
Seventh Octave," and has
People are turning to
poets. It’s the poets
that are the
xvordsmiths that are
calling the next
world into existence.
Saul Williams
another on the way, entitled
“She."
He's working on a new
album, but for now you can hear
him on the Lyricist Lounge CD.
And then there's his new
movie, "Slam," which won the top
dramatic prize at this year's
Sundance Film Festival, the
Grand Jury prize. It also slam-
dunked thel998 Cannes Film
Festival, winning the Camera
d'Or and the Prix du Public
(Audience Award).
Interviewing Williams was
easy. Sitting still while he waxed
poetic on music, movies, and
movements, was a much harder
task.
Vernando Reuben: How
did "Slam" come about?
Saul Williams: I was at
the Grand Slam
Championship in April 1996,
and Mark Levin was in the
audience. He was in the
process of
starting a film
company and
thinking about
his first feature
project.
He had
been, and is, a
documentary
filmmaker for
the last twenty
years [notably
H B O ' s
"America
Undercover"].
So basically he
comes up to me
after he saw me
performing.
The film is
about a poet
who gets busted
on some petty
weed charges,
ends up going to
prison facing
serious time. He
can't get a pen
because a pen is
weapon. So he
slowly starts
and pad. One of the more
poignant scenes in the movie
is Williams rhyming for the
little kids in the neighborhood,
some amazed, some
determined to show off their
own skills.
Raymond is close with a
drug runner/gang leader
named Big Mike, who is taken
down by a bullet at a small
nighttime handoff. All hell
breaks loose, and Ray has to
break because the cops are on
the scene (a little too) quickly.
He's caught, though, with
the stash still on him.
The story flows from
there, with Ray facing 2 to 3
years over a petty possession
charge, and being forced to
spend time in a prison where
a) he's new blood, and b) some
think he set Big Mike up for
losing his mind.
Meanwhile, there're these
two warring gangs in the
prison that think he's
responsible for the death of
this particular character in the
plot. They're about to attack
him, and right at that moment,
he starts squirming out this
stuff which becomes the most
magnetic poetry that stills
everyone, and nobody touches
him.
It's about the learning
power of words, the volume of
his voice, and how he uses it
to affect change.
the fall.
During his stay, he's
helped by Hopha (Vibe
columnist Bonz Malone), a
jailhouse kingpin of sorts who
offers to protect Ray for his
allegiance to the "family."
Poetess Sonja Sohn plays
(what else?) a poetry teacher
named Lauren Bell who has a
weekly class at the prison and
spots Ray in the yard spouting
lyrics.
The remainder of the film
focuses on the relationship
between Ray and Lauren, and
Ray's soul-twisting acceptance
of his sentence.
Levin's direction brings a
gritty edge to the movie,
making the viewer feel that (if
it weren't for the fact that
Marion Barry stars as a judge)
these events were filmed as
Mark [Levin] wanted to
tell the story of talented youth
that get caught up in the
system. He wanted to inject
some idea of hope, some type
of vision.
VR: You've said that
"Slam" is more than a movie; it's
a movement.
SW: Yeah, because the
spoken word is NOT a fad,
regardless of how commercial
it may or may not become as
a result of something like
"Slam."
The reason why the word
they happened.
No huge stars, no
Hollywood cameos, no
bloated budgets, "Slam" is just
raw footage of a man's battle
against a justice and social
system set up to knock out as
many Black males as possible.
The most impressive
aspect of the film is that its
main characters (Williams,
Levin, Sohn, and Malone)
wrote the script, yet were able
to ad-lib and blend perfectly
into the feel of the film.
A high-grade movie with
a feel that comes from the gut,
"Slam" is an impressive film
that's well worth the view.
"Slam" is now playing at
Lefont Plaza theater on Ponce de
Leon.
is becoming so important in
this day and age is because we
have reached a new beginning,
a new millennium and people
are turning to us like they
might have one day turned to
soothsayers, seers, kings.
People are turning to
poets. It's the poets that are the
wordsmiths that are calling the
next world into existence.
VR: Tell me about "The
Seventh Octave."
SW: "The Seventh
Continued on page 22
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