Dir: Simón Mesa Soto | Colombia 2025. 123′
‘A good deed never goes unpunished’ is the phrase that springs to mind in this brilliantly intelligent absurdist comedy from Simon Mesa Soto.
Ubeimar Rios gives a passionate almost unhinged performance as Oscar Restrepo, a second rate Columbian poet, so obsessed with poetry he drives everyone to distraction including his ageing mother.
Clearly Oscar is never going to make any money from his writing and that drives his maniacal behaviour. Not only is he skint he’s also out of a job and really needs to finance his life. Mother turns a deaf ear to his requests so his teenager daughter actually ends up giving him a loan. Being pathetic in her eyes almost destroys him, but that’s all part of the twisted humour of this dark comedy.
Oscar’s friend Efrain Mendoza, a successful writer (and dishevelled letch) tries to bring him down gently in his poetic pretensions by persuading Oscar to chose another path in life, but the poor man remains indomitable. There’s something hilariously pathetic about Oscar, although some may take the film at face value and find it, quite simply, a sad reflection on society, which it is.
Out of desperation Oscar channels his literary ambitions into Yurlady, a plump and unambitious teenage girl with preposterously long painted nails. One hilarious scene sees her literally drowning a massive plate of chips with sauce and ketchup while Oscar looks on horrified and talks of the wider social concerns of poetry, encouraging her to cultivate her creative talents and possibly even win a prize in this endeavour. This bizarre act of benevolence boosts his moral for a while, but does nothing for Yurlady who remains deadpan and indifferent to his ideas. And whether a career in poetry is entirely Yurlady’s schtick remains doubtful, and to be honest seems entirely inappropriate for her skill set.
Then Oscar invites Yurlady to Efrain’s poetry festival that includes a competition to encourage kids from the backstreets to develop their artistic talents and lace their creations with a subtle layer of social critique to give them gravitas. All this is aided and abetted by the Dutch cultural attaché Frida van der Poel but the student line-up remains unimpressed and rather bored. .
Surprisingly Yurlady’s efforts are rather good and eclipse Oscar’s and he down-spirals into shame, getting drunk on the festival champagne eventually comparing his manhood to Efrain’s prowess in the men’s toilets. More disappointment.
Meanwhile Yurlady, having eaten and drunk too much, ends up passing out, Oscar having to carry her home. The finale sees her parents making an official complaint, and you know where this is all leading for poor old Oscar. At the end of the day he doesn’t deserve the viciousness meted out to him.
The humour lies in the bathos and Oscar’s supreme efforts to do good. A comedy satire is always welcome in these days of social tragedy. This one, competing in the Un Certain Regard sidebar, is certainly worth a watch. @MeredithTaylor
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2025 | UN CERTAIN REGARD