Some people just don’t know how to have a good time. In A Poet, the new film from Colombian filmmaker Simón Mesa Soto, first-time actor Ubeimar Rios plays the deeply unemployed and even more deeply middle-aged failure Oscar Restrepo. Oscar lives in the Tim Robbins realm of man-childness, with a very short fuse and a scream-forward style of conflict resolution. Amid bumming money from his elderly parents and offending the poor souls who still put up with him, Oscar meets a talented young writer and finds a little bit of life left to help cultivate her talents. But before that, he ruins everyone’s night at the club. In this exclusive clip from A Poet, Oscar sets his sights on the party pooper hall of fame, and we’d be damned if he didn’t get shortlisted.
Here’s the synopsis:
Middle-aged and erratic, Oscar is a failed writer who has given up on life. Unemployed and living with family, he wanders the streets of Medellín in a drunken stupor, lamenting the state of literature in his home country, where he has succumbed to the cliché of the tortured artist. However, the opportunity to mentor a young student offers a chance at redemption, if he doesn’t screw it up first. In a performance marked by darkly comic pathos, first-time actor Ubeimar Rios stars in Simón Mesa Soto’s Un Certain Regard Jury Prize-winner A Poet, a raw and riotous farce about how good deeds are often met with the universe’s idea of cruel and unusually poetic punishment.
A Poet opens in New York City on January 30 and expands to LA next week. Find more showtimes and screenings at apoet.film.