Down Time

Running time: N/A

When you're walking the prison Broadway as a new fish, you better have your game face on, or you'll be a punk until parole. In his debut feature, Sean Wilson delivers what could be a primer for those going into the joint or a peek between the bars for those armchair cinephiles who have always wondered what happens after Dano books 'em. Short on sentimentality and bolstered by violent tension, the story of Slim on his first (probably not last) trip into the federal penitentiary system is based on Wilson's own experiences inside. Nursing a drug habit and quickly learning prison gang politics, Slim navigates his way through immeasurable boredom in an atmosphere of imminent hostility. The film gets its gritty, ugly look from being shot in working Bay Area prisons and using actual ex-cons as actors and extras (including the notorious Sam McBride from the band Fang). But the real trick up Wilson's sleeve is his ability to communicate the survival of humanity in the easy jokes around the card tables and the casual conversations among the cell bunks. Reviewed by Peter Crimmins