At a key moment in “A Poet,” the directors of a poetry festival suggest that Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade), a 15-year-old lower-class girl, write a poem about her poverty, skin color & general misfortune. She ordinarily writes about sunlight and flowers, but that wouldn’t cut it. The educated gentry that attends poetry festivals expects misery porn from the likes of Yurlady. Director Simón Mesa Soto is obviously taking a bludgeon to liberal pieties, lampooning the short-sightedness of conditional inclusion. But with his allegorical dramedy, he’s also making a point about the festival selection and international distribution process. A Colombian drama about difficult living conditions would find more favor than a Colombian comedy. Fortunately, “A Poet” was not only selected by Cannes but won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section and should find favor with discerning international audiences.
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A writer imprisoned by stereotypes might remind audiences of Cord Jefferson’s Oscar-winning “American Fiction.” Still, Soto doesn’t dwell on that and moves past swiftly, as he has other targets to skewer. Predicated on dumpy, middle-aged Oscar (Ubeimar Rios), “A Poet” is first and foremost an unsparing portrait of an artist, perhaps even a self-portrait. However, Soto is a filmmaker and not a poet. Oscar lives at home and depends upon his mother, even though he’s over 40. He’s a divorcee with an estranged daughter who hates him. He’s also a failed artist, having published two books of poetry that do not sell or generate income. He’s otherwise unemployed, gets drunk with other bums, and ends up waking up on the pavement several times.
When his friend Efrain (Guillermo Cardona) gets him a poetry reading and a TV interview, he thanks both because he’s vindictive, judgmental, and snooty. He nearly torpedoes a teaching job, but his interest is unexpectedly kindled by one of his students, 15-year-old Yurlady. She alone seems to have a knack for writing verses in a class of mediocre, uninterested, horny teenagers. Yurlady lives in a cluttered home with several siblings, all teenagers and already parents, and her single mother, who works as a maid. Oscar wants to encourage and support her and bring her recognition, thereby lifting her from the life she is destined for. The ensuing teacher-student relationship, driven by lofty ideals, inevitably turns disastrous in ways comical and poignant.
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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. In the latter half, when Oscar faces reputation, financial and familial ruin, audiences might feel Soto is stacking the deck too heavily against his protagonist. But that is where the satirical and allegorical nature of “A Poet” shines through. The extremity of consequences stemming from quotidian incidents lets Soto surgically expose the opportunistic cynicism of all his characters. Soto is unsparing – the bourgeois and the enlightened come under fire, and so do the poor and the unfortunate. Nobility is in short supply when there is the chance to make a quick buck or score points with performative ethics.  
Strangely, the only principled figure to emerge is the protagonist, Oscar, a societal failure but not as morally compromised. Soto is an equal-opportunity satirist – he mocks and damns everyone on-screen. The culminating effect is not one of misanthropy but a more tolerant humanity, a stand against the overtly exclusionary standard of virtue in vogue today. When the final stretch brings in some sentimentality, you will feel compelled to indulge Soto.
“A Poet” is largely effective due to the clean verité style in which it is staged, though the editing is punchy and the 16mm cinematography arresting. The film, set and shot in Medellín, has the pleasing verisimilitude of real-world locations and lived-in settings. The color grade and the absence of overt modern technology make the film seem like it could easily have been made in the 90s or even the 70s. What considerably enlivens the picture are the performances, unvarnished and life-like, by the two non-professional leads, Rios as Oscar and Andrade as Yurlady. Rios, in particular, is tremendous in what would be the Woody Allen role but pricklier, less quippy, and more markedly ordinary and flawed. It is a credit to Rios that Oscar, on paper, would appear to be an extremely contemptible figure, but somehow, his decency still shines through. He’s a bum but not hopeless.
“A Poet” is modest but engrossing and a successful attempt by Soto to transcend the stereotypes imposed upon him and his cinema as a Colombian artist. [A-]
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