Léalo en español
Oscar Restrepo (Ubeimar Ríos), a resident of Medellín, Colombia, won a poetry prize and published two books when he was 25 years old. Twenty years later, he lives as a misunderstood creator, or as his sister says, “unemployed.” He doesn’t write, is an alcoholic, idolizes the poet José Asunción Silva—who committed suicide at age 30—and despises Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature.
He lives with his elderly mother at the expense of his siblings; he really loves suffering what he considers the scorn of society. He lives for the meetings of a school of poets, although at times he feels that they don’t understand him either. Then one day, he meets Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade), a talented teenager who gives his life a purpose.
With these characteristics, it would be very easy to have a despicable protagonist, or at best, one worthy of commiseration. Instead this Colombian comedy contains enough dark humor to lighten the situation, irony to offer subtle social criticism, and a sense of self-confidence to challenge the stereotypes of a protagonist who goes from cursed poet to Pygmalion in the ´hood.
Director and screenwriter Simón Mesa Soto has an impeccable track record at the Cannes Film Festival. His first short film, Leidi (2014), won the festival’s Best Short Film award, and his second, Madre (2016), also participated in the official competition. His first feature film, Amparo (2021), won a Critics’ Week award. Un poeta is his second feature film, premiering in the Un Certain Regard section.
Mesa Soto has a sure hand directing actors, even non-professionals — Ubeimar Ríos for example is a literature professor —guiding them to deliver naturalistic performances. Only one young man overacts, perhaps influenced by the soap operas popular throughout Latin America. Everyone blends drama with a humorous side, even a rapper who sings “Wet my Jacuzzi” in an enthusiastic but deadpan style.
The irony is refreshing when the poets in the film are ordered to write about love, but to be considered serious, they must simultaneously allude to “their poverty, the class struggle, indigenous groups, race, and the Amazon.” (These are the same themes privileged at international festivals when Latin American films turn up.)
The entire film is shot with a handheld camera that moves in sync with each scene. The director’s weakness is stretching the narrative to 120 minutes to avoid any loose ends; the chase and action scenes are particularly tedious. The stretched rhythm hampers, but doesn’t define, the quality of A Poet.
Direction, screenplay: Simón Mesa Soto.
Producers: Juan Sarmiento G., Manuel Ruiz Montealegre, Simón Mesa Soto.
Cast: Ubeimar Rios, Rebeca Andrade Yurlady, Guillermo Cardona
Cinematography: Juan Sarmiento G.
Art direction: Camila Agudelo.
Editing: Ricardo Saravia.
Sound: Ted Krotkiewski and Eloisa Arcila.
Original music: Trio Ramberget and Matti Bye.
Production companies: Ocúltimo, Medio de Contención Producciones (Colombia), MaJa de Fiction, ZDF Daskleine Fernsehspiel/ ARTE (Germany), Memento Film, Film i Väst (Sweden)
Running time: 120 min.
World sales: Luxbox.
Venue: Cannes Film Festival 2025 (Un Certain Regard)
