Mania Grade: C
Disc Grade: B
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: R
Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Giancarlo Esposito, Talisa Soto, Mandy Patinkin, Rita Moreno
Writer: Leon Ichaso
Director: Leon Ichaso
Distributor: Miramax Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2001
Retail Price: $29.99
Extras: widescreen anamorphic; Dolby Digital 5.1; documentary; trailers; English subtitles

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PIÑERO

Miguel Piñero, the Puerto Rican author/playwright/actor/ex-con, is certainly one of the more dynamic figures to have appeared on the post-'60s literary landscape. A dynamic voice keen on articulating the tragedies of the disenfranchised, his voice was the rare type able to turn decay and disease into rapid-fire orgasmic poetry that takes the listener on a sensual trip, all the while exposing them to the horrors, and resiliency, of those society and life have tried to crush.

Too bad he couldn't have written his own docudrama.

In Leon Ichaso's interpretation of the life of Miguel Piñero, straightforward narrative is replaced by random snippets of Miguel's life. At one point we're with Miguel as a child, another with him in prison, another on his big break, and so on, all presented and lined up in as haphazard a manner as the instrumentation on a bad '70s concept album. Perhaps Mr. Ichaso wished to replicate the magic of Piñero's style, but instead his constant reliance on different film stock and shaky handheld camera work distract the audience from Piñero's biggest assets, his words and his rhythms. It's so bad one might as well call the movie NATURAL BORN PIÑERO.

Since there is no real plot, no narrative drive and therefore no sustainable tension or building empathy, one might wonder what there is about PIÑERO that keeps it from being less then average. The answer to this is one word: primer. Yes, dare I say it, PIÑERO works well as a vague introduction into the work of this critically acclaimed, troubled individual. Whereas the film as a complete whole is a disappointment, the snippets of Piñero's work are not. It is a testament to his strong writing skills that even if one leaves their television thinking made-for-TV-movie, they might just find themselves the next day, or three seconds later, on Amazon.com buying some collections of Piñero.

On an acting front, Benjamin Bratt does a fair job playing the lead. His striking good looks contrast with the more weathered mug of the actual Piñero (deceased), but do well to give the audience a sense of that author's elusive charisma. Bratt's bad ass performance might strike audiences as more hip than natural, but it would be hard to criticize him while he's reciting Piñero's poetry. Here the actor comes alive and delivers the goods with an enthusiasm and skill that would make a Def Poetry Jam contestant blush with envy. It is one of the few moments where the film flourishes and all the disparate elements and techniques meld in blissful, brutal sanity.

Released by Miramax, PIÑERO is your basic barebones DVD. You get the film looking snazzy, probably too snazzy considering the subject matter (couldn't somebody have stepped on the negative and grimed it up a bit?), in a 1.85:1 widescreen presentation that's enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.

The trailer for the film looks like a video promo, and the DVD sports trailers for other Miramax non-hits like MEXICO CITY (which looks like an affront to Mexicans everywhere), BRAVE TWO ZERO, and ROBINSON CRUSOE (featuring a badly cast Pierce Brosnan). To wrap up the package there is a mini-documentary on Piñero the man that amounts to the cast of the film discussing him.