Piñero
New Films International | Release Date: December 14, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
8
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
A daring, free-spirited and ultimately moving performance by Benjamin Bratt lies at the beating heart of Pinero. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Ichaso moves easily between a black-and-white past and a full-color present, maintaining a pace as buoyant and rhythmic as the beat of the infectious Latin music that accompanies the film. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneLoren King
It wisely lets us hear Pinero's words for ourselves, and in the end, they echo louder than the images that accompany them. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
It is a career-defining performance that could catapult the 37-year-old actor beyond bland romantic leads and into the kinds of juicy anti-heroic parts once gobbled up by Mr. Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Ichaso tells Piñero's story through a sometimes disorienting series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, fracturing the time frame to suit the film's internal rhythms, rather than any coherent time line. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Piñero never comes close to convincing us that this guy is worth a movie at all. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A biopic that is as messy as the life it details.
50
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
What Ichaso does do is take us on a dizzying, constantly moving ride through an exciting decade in the blossoming of "Nuyorican" culture with its most flamboyant figure as our focus. Read full review
40
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
Bratt's fast-talking, all-attitude interpretation is showboating without soul -- which can be said of the entire movie. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A well-intentioned, reverential but unenlightening portrait. It pays tribute to the artist. Yet it doesn't scrutinize him. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklySteven Mikulan
The main drawback is Claudio Chea's vertiginous camera work -- and the print's continual alternations between black-and-white and color add nothing but a distracting ornamentation. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Not a man, but the romanticizing of him. A lot of jive-shit. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter Travers
There's a strong movie in this life, but writer-director Leon Ichaso ("Sugar Hill") hasn't found it. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
At its most indulgent and posturing, Piñero plays like a movie the man himself might've made, between scores. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
This character was an abusive swine. Perhaps it would be best to let his art stand on its own. Read full review
20
VarietyDennis Harvey
Hectic, sketchy and finally dull. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
A sustained piece of showboating mythmaking, and something of a snow job. Read full review
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