A Poet

A Poet is one of the funniest, saddest films of the year, and it’s about the exact thing most movies about art are too flattering to touch: what if you love poetry, gave your life to it, and simply aren’t good enough? Simón Mesa Soto’s Colombian tragicomedy follows Oscar, a washed-up Medellín poet who latches onto a genuinely talented teenage girl and tries to make her his project, his redemption, his second chance.

It’s excruciating in the best way, a portrait of a man whose passion has curdled into something needier. Ubeimar Rios plays him without a shred of vanity. The film keeps you laughing right up until it quietly breaks your heart. It won a prize at Cannes and deserved it. Anyone who’s ever wanted something they might not be built for should see it.