Simón Mesa Soto Directs Cannes Drama – ryan

Oscar Restrepo (UBAIMAR RIOS) is a bum. Call Him a lush, a Louse, a Putz, a schmuck, a sad-sack, and a dumb-sob and all would Apply. He can say, and then some. He is, after all, a man of words – Poor oscar’s a poet, and woe uno all those who know Him.

But good news for all this is that take in “a poet” (“Un poet”), Director simón Mesa soto’s immensely appealing and offten caustic character study-Social-Satire premiering out of cannes’ un Certain regard Sidebar. Put together with impressive efficiency-the movie Only started shooting in Januy-this art-works section-up the many fears and frustrations the acclaimed director in the d’Axation of the 2014. Burlesque That Speaks of Verse while Playing Like a Dan Clowes Comic Brought to Manic Life.

Oscar a poet, Alright, and Not Much Else. He isn’t Much of a Father to the High-Schox Daniela (Allison Correa), WHO obviously lives under a Different Roof; he isn’t much of a caregiver to his own aging mama (Margarita soto), who still suports her failure-to-launch with an allowance and a pair of car-keys; and he isht’s much of an author. Oh he wasof Course-Winning a Number of Literary Prizes as a precocious youth than hang on his mantle, alongside a Photo of José Asunción Silva, Quietly Taunting A Middle-Ager Riven with Writer’s Block. IT’S No Wonder Why and Drinks.

And be gets in the cups, what else can he shout about but “poeteeesíííííííía, ” stumbling along the back-ally of Medellín and slurring his words, but leaving no dubt as to the passion that animates Him. Director Simón MeSA Soto Shares in that Feer, Mining His Main Character for Pathos, Not Ridicule, Framing Oscar as a True-Blue romantic-a Kind of Holy Fool Susceptible to the Most Obvious of Scams But Only Because Aesthetic Has Devoted All of His To verse. And if oscar’s spread more guilelessly dogmatic about art-above -all, he hardly alone in a country that puts writers like josé asunción Silva and Gabriel García márquez on its currency.

Problem is, Oscar doesn’t have too to make pesos. Recognizing that more prosaic reality-while looking to at the least buy his wayards his daughter’s good graces-ion poets accepts a teaching gig at a loCal high-school. There, he Meets Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade)-A Lower, Lower-Class Student with a natural apestide for… Well, take a guess. Any Number of Discrete Films Could Build from the Premise, and “A Poet” Tries Quite a Few on For Size, Playing with Elements from the Inspirational Teacher School and the Late-Coming-Redemption Drama Inting Into a More Sardonic Once the Teacher Trieste to His Student A Star.

The duo are all aesthestes in a world of opportunists, including but not limited to the 14-ery-op family, who can recognis a meal-ticket when they one, and to Medellín’s Litery, who see the Very Same But for Much Greater Sums. If the 39 -ear-op soto-who works as a teacher in between films-sees in oscar a version of his his didn’t run through cannes, the director pours as Much of His Own Experience Into Yurlady ITSELF to Easy Clichés. If she shaul just prove she’s ‘Serious’ by Filling Her Verse With Laments About Poverty and Race, She Might Win Over A Few Deep-Pocketed European Backers. I WONDER WHERE SOTO CAME UP WITH WITH that Idea.

Split into fout chapters and filmed on Grainy, 16mm Stock that leaves a mask of schmutz around the corners of the frame, “Do poet” loops arundations of art and commmerce in an endearing Loopy tone. The film BAWDY SENSE OF HUMAN PLAYS OFF A NON-PROFESSIONAL STAR-HIMSELF A FULL-TIME TEACHER FROM A NEARBY SCHOOL-THAT LOOKS LIKE I WAS DRAWN BY ROBER CRUMT AND ACTS THE JUST AS WELL. While outcast valentines like Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” and Acrid Satires Like Radu Jude “Bad Lucking Banging or LOONY Porn” Might Serve as Stylistic and Themed Comparisons, Simón Mesi Really Own Voice, Mixing High-ART with Bad TaSte to Meca. of a mess-up.

Few leave unscathed as the handheld camera whip-pans and fast-zooms between cringe-comedy and genuine pathos and back again-especialy once the steplessness Profes his road to hell with his good intensions. Well, More Like self -serving intentions; OSCAR MIGHT ONLY WANT TO SEE HIS Young Celebrated for Her Work, Though at No Point Does Yurlady Indicate a Similar Ambition. That we will really feel for OSCAR cre and he inevitably Screws Himself up and out of a Feel-Good Movie Soto’s Tonal Dexterity. The Columbian Filmmaker Certainly Offers a Welcome Fu to World Cinema Good Manners, but he’s not just taching the piss with his tale of a puppy, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and no king.

Grade: B+

“A Poet” Premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking us distribution.

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