Puerto Rican-American poet-playwright Miguel Pinero, the "philosopher of the criminal mind" who achieved his greatest fame for writing the set-in-Sing Sing "Short Eyes," is the subject of this complex but often disengaging film by Cuba-born filmmaker Leon Ichaso ("Bitter Sugar," "Sugar Hill"). A main competition entry at the Montreal World Film Festival and unspooling at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Miramax releasing it Stateside, "Pinero" features a furiously unglamorous, convincing performance by Benjamin Bratt. While some critics might respond favorably and serious-minded urban audiences should find it worth the price of admission, judging from its mixed reaction here, the film will not break out in a significant way commercially.

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