`SLAM' AN UPLIFTING TWIST ON TOUGH-STREETS STORY LINE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

``Slam'' takes the urban drama in a strange but pleasing new direction. Uplifting, if not entirely convincing, it runs on sheer, committed emotion. That alone is a refreshing change from the fatalism that permeates most films about the inner city.

Still, ``Slam's'' most distinctive element also makes it an oddity. The title refers to an energetic form of performance poetry, engaged with social and racial issues and delivered in an impassioned, melodramatic style. Not surprisingly, the movie's two leads, Saul Williams and Sonja Sohn, are both competition winners on the slam poetry circuit. They've got star quality, but they're not quite ready for movie stardom.

Like sports in a number of ghetto problem films, poetry here is held up as a route away from the despair and the violence. But this is no simplistic, ``Fame''-like fable that just substitutes performance of one kind for another; no one suggests here that spoken word is going to be anybody's ticket out of poverty. ``Slam's'' point that personal growth comes through reflective creative expression, however, is persuasively made.

Williams plays Raymond Joshua, an affable small-time drug dealer in D.C.'s tough Dodge City district. When his connection and protector is hit bad in an ambush, Joshua is busted on a minor drug charge by desperate cops. Thrust into the District's horrendous criminal justice system (bad-example Mayor Marion Barry has an amusing cameo as a ``teach 'em a lesson'' judge), Joshua is threatened and pressured to take sides with a gang faction.

Yet his facility for rhyming impresses belligerent inmates enough to keep Joshua out of danger. It also impresses a comely volunteer writing instructor, Lauren Bell (Sohn), who's devoted to teaching the guys self-esteem through self-revelation. When Joshua gets bailed out, he makes a beeline for the appreciative Bell.

But will the judge and jury he'll have to face be as moved by Joshua's poetic flights?

Directed by documentary veteran Marc Levin from a script which many of the actors contributed to - including the ex-con turned columnist Bonz Malone, who plays a particularly enlightened jailhouse ganglord - much of the movie was filmed inside the actual D.C. lockup, with real prisoners appearing in many scenes. It's an understatement to say that the thing has realistic background texture.

It's the foreground that occasionally gets out of sync. Williams has a smoldering magneticism in his quieter scenes, a stillness that radiates both thoughtfulness and hurt. And when he's rhyming out, there's an electric command and power in his well-matched words and gestures.

When he plays a highly emotional scene straight, however, Williams inevitably gets too shrill - there is no degree or nuance to his righteous, worried anger. Sohn has similar strengths and weaknesses as an actress, compounded by the fact that her character is stuck with the film's preachiest dialogue.

Despite those shortcomings, ``Slam'' is a winning fusion of gritty staging techniques and growth-potential rhetoric. And the rhymes are sublime - much more so than that line could ever indicate.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Slam'' (R; violence, drug use, language, nudity, sex).

The stars: Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Bonz Malone, Beau Sia.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Marc Levin. Written by Levin, Bonz Malone, Sonja Sohn, Richard Stratton and Saul Williams. Produced by Henri M. Kessler, Levin and Stratton. Released by Trimark Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 40 minutes.

Playing: Beverly Center Cineplex, West Hollywood; Westside Pavilion, West Los Angeles; Magic Johnson Theatres, Baldwin Hills.

Our rating: Three stars.

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Photo

Photo: Raymond Joshua (Saul Williams) is a small-time drug dealer with a gift for rhyme in ``Slam.''