Teacher and writer Oscar (Ubeimar Rios) is struck by the writings of Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade). Sensing a talent in her, the mentor offers to take her to a poetry school, where she is invited to read some of her work. A struggling alcoholic, Oscar is distracted by the champagne on offer, but sobers up when he discovers his student vomiting over a toilet. Despite his efforts, Oscar brings the teenager back bruised and unconscious, causing some to suspect he interfered with the pupil.
As a premise, A Poet is an intense one, but writer and director Simón Mesa Soto infuses the film with humour in order to defuse some of the tension. Unfortunately,some of the gags cancel out the more impactful moments that follow them. The set piece in which Oscar discovers his protégé in pools of vomit has less of an impact given t hat it was preceded by a tasteless moment in which the lead compared his penis size to that of his boss. Rios occasionally ruins a moment by needlessly inserting a silly smile or cheeky grin, despite the fact that his character is accused of assault.
On the converse, Andrade makes a great impression as Yurlady, a prodigious writer who grows up in far from ideal circumstances. Her teenage sisters have babies of their own, transforming her domicile into a tunnel of incessant wails and tantrums. The poems she writes are exquisite for a 15-year-old, which is why she’s challenged to compose a piece about growing up as a black girl. She makes an impression on Oscar, now committed to change, and reengage with his daughter Daniela (Alisson Correa), a girl who has loaned her father money out of “pity”. Yurlady and Daniela are of a similar age, something the former acknowledges in a correspondence.
As a physical performer, Andrade is splendid, gleefully rolling down a hill after one wine too many. She’s believable as a teenager of limited income, who must put family finances ahead of art. Oscar, by contrast, pits his life against Columbian poet José Asunción Silva, a man who committed suicide at 30. Mediocre in writing, cowardly in spirit, he won’t follow Silva’s footsteps; his work as a mentor is his “magnum opus”.
In some ways, A Poet calls Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013) to mind because it deals with an artist’s struggles against an ever changing market. Oscar himself was a poet of note in his younger years, but life, marriage and alcohol got in the way of creative progress. In what might be his finest scene in the movie, Rios stares wordlessly at Yurlady’s notebook, his eyes gleaming at the drawings and excerpts that await him.
Oscar is well-meaning, but naive: Cautioned by a headmaster to follow protocols, the writer-teacher opens up a can of worms when he fails to do so, putting an adolescent at risk. Suddenly, everyone turns their back on him: “She was your responsibility”. It’s here that Rios’ penchant for farce come into play, shrieking as he’s chased down the street by Yurlady’s furious older brother.
A Poet works better as a comedy, which doesn’t detract from some of the more serious moments. Behind the schooldrama comes a more relatable one: Oscar’s mother is elderly and ill. This realisation helps to quell the erstwhile poet’s ego, and focus on the relationships in front of him. He is trying to be better and change for the sake of his child. Happening across one of her dad’s older works, Daniela is stunned to see that a piece was written about her impending birth. Like the film it’s in, the resonance might be off, yet there’s no denying the sincerity.
A Poet premiered in. the Un Certain Regard section of the 78th Cannes International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. Also showing at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival, and at the 73rd San Sebastian International Film Festival.
