Review: ‘Pinero’ held back by director

Geoff Carter

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

Grade: **

Starring: Benjamin Bratt, Talisa Soto, Giancarlo Esposito, Mandy Patinkin and Rita Moreno.

Screenplay: Leon Ichaso.

Director: Leon Ichaso.

Rated: R for drug use, strong language and sexuality.

Running time: 100 minutes.

Movie times: http://www.vegas.com/movies/

The writer and director of the Miguel Pinero biopic "Pinero," Leon Ichaso, cut his teeth directing episodes of "Miami Vice." In a way, he's following in the footsteps of his subject: Pinero, a poet and playwright (also a thief and junkie, the film reminds) appeared in episodes of "Beretta" and "Kojak," trading his notoriety for cash.

The main difference between their cop-show slumming experiences is that Pinero left his Hollywood flash on the set, while Ichaso mars an otherwise fair story with rapid editing, film stock that changes from black and white to color for no apparent reason, and poor, episodic pacing. It's just like "Miami Vice," but with junkie poets living in vans instead of pastel-clad cops cruising in Ferraris.

The performances might have been solid, if Ichaso had allowed any of them to sink in. Benjamin Bratt does his best to inhabit Pinero, the "Nuyorican" (New Yorker-Puerto Rican) writer/criminal best known for his play "Short Eyes" -- he swaggers through New York's Lower East Side similar to a druggy prince, with wavy hair and a beard that evokes Che Guevara. Ichaso's script jumps around in Pinero's life for no discernible reason, but Bratt makes the best of what he's given. He's the film's only reliable element.

Unfortunately, Bratt's consistency is a double-edged sword. He shows no visible signs of aging over a 10-year period, and even on the downslope of liver failure, he looks handsome and robust. Ichaso is so intent on pumping up the nobilty of his subject that he completely glosses over his ugliness: the abhorrent behavior that landed him in jail again and again, the sickness that killed him, the friends that likely just tolerated him, as opposed to forgiving him.

Ichaso also buries some other performances that might have elevated the film. Giancarlo Esposito bucks the tide as Miguel Alagarin, Pinero's long-suffering confidant and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe. Rita Moreno and Talisa Soto suffer elegantly as Pinero's mother and lover, respectively. And in a tiny role, Mandy Patinkin brings passionate theater impresario Joe Papp back to life. All these gems are more or less cut in two as Ichaso clumsily applies his "edge."

Ultimately, "Pinero" is unaffecting -- at best a gentle reminder of Miguel Pinero's accomplishments, and not a compelling argument to learn about the man's life and work. "Miami Vice" was more memorable. In the course of making "Pinero," you'd think that Ichaso would have learned that the only thing worth taking home from Hollywood is the paychecks.