Flashily but irritatingly shot, full of unmotivated switches from colour to b/w, sudden flashbacks, mannered slow mo and jump cuts, this is hardly a subtle evocation of its subject's life.
Comment
02/09/06
Piñero (2001)
45 %
Reviews Counted: 60 Fresh: 27 Rotten:33 Average Rating: 5.5/10
Consensus:
Though Bratt is great in the title role, the biopic itself is messy and Piñero grows tiresome.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Synopsis: Miguel Piñero was a New York City poet and playwright who wrote what he knew: a world of "stabbing, shooting and dying." This gritty, non-linear biographical film presents Piñero's dark charisma and even darker life in all it's angry glory. A junkie, a drug dealer, and a thief, Piñero (played... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Benjamin Bratt, Talisa Soto, Mandy Patinkin, Rita Moreno, Jaime Sanchez
Reviews
Top Critic
Overlapping the artist's biography and his work, writer-director Leon Ichaso pointedly reflects the chaos in his subject's shortish life, but he links the artist's frustrations and talent in the usual manner: as cause and effect.
07/31/07
Top Critic
Bratt's fast-talking, all-attitude interpretation is showboating without soul -- which can be said of the entire movie.
12/06/05
Who was Piñero, and more to the point, why should we care? Bratt brings him to life, but we come away appreciating his genius no more than we did before.
12/07/03
A movie of attitude that -- much like its main character -- consumes itself.
10/10/02
The only reason a person hops back-and-forth in one scene, from scene to scene, using (a) color film, (b) black-and-white stock, and (c) digital video (then back to (b), then (c) again, then (a), then…) is merely to do it because they can.
09/17/02
The film's cinematic technique is supposed to be vibrant and alive and reflect Pinero's variegated lifestyle, but it never gets to the soul of the man....
07/29/02
A vivid rendering of the complexities of the artist's soul, and a notable attempt to convey the trajectory of a volatile creative life.
07/20/02
This promises to be one of the better films of the year and Bratt's performance deserves at least a nomination...
06/30/02
Benjamin Bratt, the pretty boy once seen on the arm of America's sweetheart Julia Roberts, plays Piñero with a passion. It's a star-making performance.
06/28/02
Bratt's performance is as steady and consistent as the film is frustrating.
05/03/02
Pinero came along in a period of time that was ripe for his point of view, and Ichaso and his cast do a winning job of recreating his wisdom and words.
04/22/02
God is jealous of Benjamin Bratt, but He's coming around…Bratt's performance [here] is electrifying and charismatic.
04/18/02
It attempts to champion the phony theme that poor, vulnerable artists should be forgiven their failings because they are so much more important than the rest of us.
04/18/02
Related Forums
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