''Spoken Word'' is a 2009 drama film directed by

Victor Nuñez Victor Nunez (born 1945) is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Fe ...

and starring

Kuno Becker Eduardo Kuno Becker Paz (born January 14, 1978) professionally known as Kuno Becker, is a Mexican actor and film director who has worked in telenovelas, Mexican and American cinema. He is best known for his portrayal of Ruben Berrizabal in ''So ...

Ruben Blades Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Reuvein in Yiddish or as an English variant spelling on th ...

Miguel Sandoval Miguel Sandoval (born November 16, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for his role on the NBC/ CBS drama series '' Medium'' (2005–2011), where he played D.A. Manuel Devalos. Biography Sandoval was born in Washington, D.C. He began wo ...

and

Persia White Persia White (born October 25, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lynn Searcy on the UPN/ CW sitcom '' Girlfriends''. She is also known for her role as Abby Bennett Wilson in '' The Vampire Diaries'' (2012–2017). ...

. The writers include William T. Conway and Joe Ray Sandoval. The film was produced by Karen Koch and William T. Conway. It opened in New York City at Big Cinemas Manhattan 1 on July 23, 2010, and played in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Sunset 5 on July 30, 2010.

Plot

Cruz Montoya is a Latino

spoken-word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation ...

artist who works in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He returns home to

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

to reconnect with his dying father and his brother. He is finding himself losing his "voice" as he spirals downward back into the dysfunctional life of drugs and violence he had left behind. His brother is judgmental. Cruz is approached by his former boss Emilio, who works as a local

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

. Cruz falls into the familiar patterns of his past while ignoring the increasingly anxious phone calls of his girlfriend. Cruz is also suffering from

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

and uses alcohol to self-medicate.

Cast

as Cruz Montoya *

as Senior *

as Emilio *

as Shae *

Rashaan Nall Rashaan Harvey Nall (born February 25, 1980) is an American writer, director, screenwriter and actor of stage and screen. Early life Rashaan Nall was born in the Greater Los Angeles, California and raised in Altadena, California Nall attended ...

as Cloudy *Chris Ranney as Bartender

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has a score of 46% based on reviews from 13 critics, with an average rating of 5.4/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, ''Spoken Word'' have a rank of 56 out of a 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Nick Schager of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' gave the film one star out of 4, while

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave it 3 out of 4 and called ''Spoken Word'' "A rich and textured film".

References

External links

* * *
''Spoken Word''
at

ComingSoon.net Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male ...

''Spoken Word''
at

Yahoo! Movies Yahoo! Movies (formerly Upcoming Movies), provided by the Yahoo! network, was home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Ya ...

''Spoken Word''
at IMP Awards * 2009 drama films 2009 films Films scored by Michael Brook Films about bipolar disorder Films about poets Films set in New Mexico Hispanic and Latino American drama films Variance Films films Films directed by Victor Nuñez 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-drama-film-stub