Piñero: Harsh reality and surreal sensuality

"Make me proud before I go," Miguel Piñero’s mother purportedly asked her eccentric son while he was still serving time in Sing-Sing prison in New York. The Puerto Rican icon, like the good son he once was, promised not to fail his mother.

Perhaps this is the only scene in "Piñero," with Benjamin Bratt in the title role, where the lead character shows signs of redemption. Imagine a guy stealing his friend’s television set during an overnight stay in his pal’s house and peddling his catch in the streets of Manhattan -- talk about gratitude. Or a cirrhosis-afflicted man threatening to get a transvestite’s liver to cure his disease. Or even a playwright getting the complimentary premiere night tickets to his own play and selling them as a scalper outside the theater to earn some money to buy drugs. If writer/director Leon Ichaso’s account is to be believed, this was the same artist-performer who once became famous in the literary and theater scene during the 70’s and 80’s -- and more.

Piñero wrote the Tony-nominated "Short Eyes" in 1974. His critically acclaimed play was later turned into a movie two years after. He was also co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café, a favorite hangout of writers and artists in New York, mostly Puerto Rican immigrants. Aside from achieving success as a playwright and poet, he also wrote and did bit roles in the TV series "Miami Vice," "Kojak," and "Baretta" and films like "Fort Apache: The Bronx," among others.

However, most of these accomplishments were not presented clearly in the movie. Instead, the film treats its audience to a life of theft, sex, and drugs a la "Boogie Nights" as Piñero went on with his unpredictable ways and vicious habits. Ichaso might have hinted that the writer was sexually abused by his father when he was still young but this was not significantly associated to any other scene in the film. Even his bisexual tendencies were insinuated when he once went to the house of the aforementioned drag queen and when he also fondled another man, his protégé Reinaldo Provod (Michael Irby), in a strip joint. But both incidents, unfortunately, were not developed. Thus, what the viewers get is a narrow understanding on the life of a supposedly interesting character, a far cry from Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas’ biopic "Before Night Falls" where I somehow sympathized with Spanish actor Javier Bardem’s character.

What makes the story doubly hard to accept for the ordinary viewer is its allusion that Piñero never tried to mend his wrong ways despite the presence of a relatively encouraging environment. Of course, there’s his caring mother (Rita Moreno) who persistently read poetry to her eldest child and gleefully danced with him on the rooftops on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with the hope of keeping him away from the streets. Then, there’s his loving girlfriend Sugar (Talisa Soto), an aspiring young actress who promised to do everything for Mickey (Piñero’s nickname) "like a whore" and patiently waited for Piñero to propose marriage. He never reciprocated her love with the same passion. Even New York Public Theatre director Joseph Papp (Mandy Patinkin) continued to believe in his remarkable talent in spite of his several brushes with the law, only to learn that his favorite playwright was robbing women of their fur coats along the dark alleys of the city or shooting up drugs in the theater’s comfort room. Probably no one among his friends can beat the very supportive Miguel Algarin (Giancarlo Esposito), a literature professor whom he robbed of his belongings but still managed to forgive the kleptomaniac Piñero and went on to establish the NPC with him. Unbelievably, all these positive elements did not change the Latino poet/playwright/actor for the better, thus leaving suckers for bad-turned-good guy stories completely unsatisfied.

Whether the film is good or not, most viewers will definitely agree that Bratt delivers a powerful, gripping, and emotional performance as the Che Guevara-looking writer, a great departure from his usual neat-looking roles. Prior to watching "Piñero," I had only seen Bratt as an ex-cop in the TV show "Law and Order" and as Sandra Bullock’s police partner in "Miss Congeniality," not that cops are clean-looking mind you. Of course, most Filipinos know Bratt as the man who would’ve been the next "Mr. Julia Roberts". Indeed, Bratt’s acting comes as a complete surprise in this movie.

On the other hand, Ichaso’s style of direction might confuse most viewers. His edgy camerawork jumps from one black and white to color in exactly the same sequence, making no distinction whatsoever as to what happened in the past and what is happening in the present. Like most breakthrough art film directors, he also utilized a non-linear narrative but the switch in time periods was not coherent enough to be understood. Maybe this is his way of emphasizing Piñero’s chaotic life but only a few non-mainstream film viewers would appreciate his approach. The movie is difficult to watch visually with cinematographer Claudio Chea and editor David Tedeschi doing little to address Ichaso’s shots. Fortunately, a poignant ending saved an otherwise disturbing tale of another big, bad wolf.

Despite its perceived weaknesses, it cannot be denied that Ichaso has inventively adapted Piñero’s life story into a completely unique movie. If viewers would like to have a different kind of cinematic experience with a surprising performance from its lead actor, this film would certainly be a satisfying break from very predictable films like "Sweet Home Alabama."

"Piñero" is currently being screened at ArtFilm Greenbelt Cinema 1. The UP Film Center is also showing this Cinemanila 2002 film entry on November 26, Tuesday, 4 and 7 P.M.