Slam
1998, R, 100 min.
Directed by Marc Levin, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Bonz Malone, Beau Sia.

Not reviewed at press time.This year’s Sundance Grand Jury prize winner and winner of the Camera d’Or and Audience Award at Cannes explores the world of “slamming” — a combination of poetry and rap that has become a national phenomenon. In this documentary-styled fiction film, a young “slammer,” finding himself in jail in Washington, D.C. on a petty drug charge, uses his gift of gab against the system.

This article appears in November 13 • 1998 (Cover).

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.