to be doing. On the outside, he also reunites with Bell, and is welcomed into her circle of friends at a poetry reading at her home. They wind up spending the night together, despite her reservations about the future. The next day, she urges him to settle his legal troubles by agreeing to serve a year or two of prison time, rather than fighting the charges and potentially being put away for much longer. They quarrel, because Ray feels that Bell doesn't understand his situation. He leaves, but shows up that night at a poetry slam event in D.C.'s Cleveland Park neighborhood that Bell had invited him to, just in time to see her perform an extremely powerful and empathetic piece that was clearly written for him. When the crowd demands an encore, she invites Ray onto the stage to perform instead, and he delivers an impromptu dramatic poem — scrawled as he crossed the city on public transit on his way to the slam — an emotional piece about black males and the criminal justice system. When the crowd demands an encore, Ray tells Lauren he needs to get some air, then leaves again. He wanders the streets until he is drawn to the Washington Monument. Cast Saul Williams as Ray Joshua Sonja Sohn as Lauren Bell Bonz Malone as Hopha Lawrence Wilson as Big Mike Beau Sia as Jimmy Huang Andre Taylor as China Rhozier Brown as the public defender Momolu Stewart as Bay, the jail rapper Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry makes a cameo appearance as the judge at Joshua's arraignment. Reception The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The film holds a 61% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 23 critics with an average rating of 6.8/10. Accolades It won the Grand Jury Prize for a Dramatic Film at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival as well as the Caméra d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Soundtrack A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on October 13, 1998 by Epic Records. It was produced by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky. It peaked at 84 on the Billboard 200 and 24 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. See also List of hood films Footnotes ^ In one of the opening scenes, the streetsigns for the intersection of Hartford Street, SE and 23rd Place, SE are visible, placing the setting in the