Prison Song (film)

Infobox_Film
name =Prison Song


caption ="Prison Song" DVD cover
writer =Q-Tip
Darnell Martin
starring =Q-Tip
Mary J. Blige
Harold Perrineau
director =Darnell Martin
cinematography =Alexander Gruszynski
editing =Peter C. Frank
producer =Robert De Niro
Brad Epstein
Jane Rosenthal
music =
distributor =New Line Cinema
released =April 27, 2001
runtime =90 minutes
language =English
budget =
imdb_id =0216982:"For other meanings of Prison Song please see Prison Song (disambiguation)".

"Prison Song" is a 2001 United States prison film about a boy brought up in group homes with a gift and passion for art.

Overview

The film centers around a character named Elijah (Q-Tip), who is an adolescent at the story’s outset. His mother (Mary J. Blige) is a hard-working woman who’s spent the last several years attending night school – with the eventual goal of becoming a lawyer. But given that she’s from a lower class area, she’s having a tough time finding employment as a legal secretary. Her boyfriend, Cee (Harold Perrineau), is supportive and has a genuine bond with Elijah – but later is incarcerated after assaulting an officer, serving twenty-five to life term for having three consecutive charges. Not only that, Elijah finds himself incarcerated at a juvenile correctional facility for a prank played on a police officer, which enrages his mother because she wasn't able to get him back. She loses her cool and ends up in a mental institution. The film picks up years later, and Elijah is now a sensitive adult with dreams of becoming an artist. He’s offered a spot at a prestigious art school, but is unable to afford the tuition. Much to the chagrin of Cee, who’s still in prison, Elijah considers a foray into the world of drug dealing. Though he eventually decides against that route, he winds up in jail for accidentally killing one of his foster brothers (Fat Joe) by pushing him on to the subway tracks. It’s there that Elijah is faced with a prison term of fifteen to life and endures hardships throughout his prison sentence. He gets the chance to escape but goes back and helps a friend. He ends up getting shot and his art going in an art gallery.

Cast

*Q-Tip - Elijah Butler
*Mary J. Blige - Mrs. Butler
*Harold Perrineau - Uncle Steve
*Fat Joe - Big Pete
*N.O.R.E.- Dealer

Trivia

*The 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.
*Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse was offered a role as a security guard but turned it down because he wasn't permitted to wear clown makeup.
*In the scene when Cee is getting arrested by the police, you can see a cab in the background advertising "The Lion King".

External links

* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007G24S Prison Song Reviews]
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prison_song Prison Song Summaries]