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A Poet

Play trailer 1:34 Poster for A Poet Jan 2026 2h 3m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 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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A Poet

A Poet

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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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Critics Reviews

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Kimberley Jones Austin Chronicle Feb 26, 2026
3.5/5
Mesa Soto initially mines wry humor from Oscar’s sad-sackness; he and editor Ricardo Saravia are especially good at scene transitions that land like a punchline, and the marvelous Rios – small of stature and existentially slumped – cuts a comical figure. Go to Full Review Kat Sachs Chicago Reader Feb 11, 2026
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. Go to Full Review Bob Mondello NPR Feb 9, 2026
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. Go to Full Review André Didyme-Dôme Rolling Stone en Español Sep 12, 2026
A Poet is precisely that: a pitch-black, lucid, and painful comedy that dares to say that even those who are superfluous, those who arrived late, those who don't fit in, still deserve a poem. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Belen Prieto Espinof Aug 20, 2026
5/5
It's a small film on the surface, but with far more depth than it initially appears. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Leonardo Garcia Tsao La Jornada May 4, 2026
A box office hit in Colombia, A Poet is the result of an ambitious international production and co-production program that has already borne fruit. We should follow their example. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dustin S Feb 17, 2026 Charming story, funny and poingant, with plenty of interesting things to say about class, art, and families without hitting you over the head with a message or proselytizing. See more jesse v Feb 8, 2026 "'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. See more Henry D @Henry_Domke Aug 8, 2026 The lead actor was unpleasant to watch, and the first ten minutes were so unappealing that we lost any desire to continue. We gave up on it almost immediately. See more Alejandra C @RT68476870 Jun 22, 2026 Entre la tragedia y la comedia como toda gran obra, una oda a los poetas tristes y un soplo de visibilidad a la realidad latinoamericana. See more Karen S @RT49350769 May 28, 2026 Maravillosa, de mis pelis favoritas en el año! Gracias por hacer cine colombiano tan chimbaaaa See more Juan José R @RT26909932 Apr 25, 2026 Vale la pena verla tiene buena profundidad,no es ni lenta ni aburrida es muy profunda y su mensaje es muy bonito,pero no la volvería a ver. See more Read all reviews
A Poet

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Cast & Crew

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Simón Mesa Soto

Director

Ubeimar Rios

Oscar

Rebeca Andrade

Yurlady

Guillermo Cardona

Efraín

Alisson Correa

Daniela

Margarita Soto

Teresita

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A Poet

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A Poet

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Movie Info

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
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Spanish
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 30, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 24, 2026
Box Office (Gross USA)
$274.5K
Runtime
2h 3m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.66:1)
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