A Poet

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A Poet

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2h 3m

Drama

Comedy

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100%

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43 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

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.

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Critics Consensus

Anchored by writer-director Simón Mesa Soto's wry detail and Ubeimar Rios' brilliantly uneasy performance, A Poet uses the tortured artist archetype to craft a story that's as darkly funny as it is unexpectedly affecting.

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Kat Sachs

Chicago Reader

5d

A Poet is worth seeing for the moments of genuine emotion and elegiac contemplation, the wry humor, Rios’s unguarded performance, and the gritty production design and cinematography.

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Bob Mondello

NPR

Feb 9

Filmmaker Soto casts a skeptical eye on all of this, shooting in grainy 16-millimeter, and using musical scoring to underline the absurdity and pretension.

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Christy Lemire

FilmWeek (LAist)

Feb 4

The tone is really deft. There's an understated humor to it, because the central figure is really pathetic, but you come to really feel for him, too.

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Phoenix Clouden

Geek Vibes Nation

3d

8/10

A Poet is a reminder that despite our mistakes we can learn from and grow to become a better person.

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Ankit Jhunjhunwala

The Playlist

Feb 9

A-

Soto paints broadly and sweeps in several characters & incidents – sight gags & "Curb Your Enthusiasm" style cringe comedy moments abound. But he also leavens "A Poet" with pathos & insight, veering from farce to tragedy with expert code-switching.

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Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

Feb 8

Who knew that the world needed a satire about society using a local poetry center as the main location and a nebbish, alcoholic poet who had not published in ages as the protagonist?

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jesse v

Feb 8

"'But I was trying to help' as he says not knowing age boundaries and when to stop being insistent" the movie. The ending was a hard cut unfortunately.

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Myron M.

Feb 10

This movie has very good acting, has very intense emotional scenes. I felt myself rooting for the main character despite all his character flaws. The movie has some interesting plot changes as it is depicted in various chapters through the picture. . You won’t see a movie very often where a poet and poetry holds center stage in a movie that takes place in Columbia.

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David C

@ElDeiby Feb 4

Must watch, excellent movie

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virginia s

@Ginny72 Feb 3

Oscar is a character you won’t soon forget. Many "dark comedies" don’t deliver comedy, but this one sure does.

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Simón Mesa Soto

Director

Ubeimar Rios

Oscar

Rebeca Andrade

Yurlady

Guillermo Cardona

Efraín

Alisson Correa

Daniela

Margarita Soto

Teresita

A Poet: Trailer 1

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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.

Director: Simón Mesa Soto
Producer: Simón Mesa Soto, Juan Sarmiento G., Manuel Ruiz Montealegre
Screenwriter: Simón Mesa Soto
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Production Co: Ocúltimo, Medio de Contención Producciones
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 30, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 2h 3m

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