A poet with a criminal past tries to outrun poverty — one gut-wrenching stage show at a time.
Ex-con turned poet/performer Lemon Andersen fights for an exit from generations of poverty by bringing his life's secrets to the New York stage. But revisiting his troubled past has more in store than he bargained for, as he is confronted by his demons time and again.
Writing
Lemon's spoken word poetry cuts like truth you weren't ready for.
Direction
Directors let the ugliness breathe — no tidy documentary packaging here.
Director
Laura Brownson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lemon won a Tony for 'Def Poetry Jam' — this doc catches him trying to replicate that magic solo, broke, and desperate.
The film quietly interrogates who gets to tell 'inspiring' poverty stories — the artist or the audience paying to watch him suffer artfully.
US
