When the Communist Party is banned in Chile in 1948, senator, poet and sensualist Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco, No) is forced into hiding, hotly pursued by determined if none-too-bright police prefect Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael Garcia Bernal), who is eager to make a name for himself by capturing the famed poet. Champion of the downtrodden yet vain enough to fret over his public persona (and pepper his escape with a few decadent diversions), Neruda engages in a delicious cat-and-mouse game with Peluchonneau, whose own deep-seated vanities drive an insatiable hunger to will himself into the writer's world-and/or transcend his supporting role as an extension of Neruda himself.

Teaming once again with DP Sergio Armstrong and writer Guillermo Calderon, acclaimed Chilean director Pablo Larrain (Jackie, The Club) balances historical fact with a playful, literary blurring of narrative lines. Less concerned with re-enacting history than honoring the tone and spirit of the famed writer's art, Neruda is a brilliant homage to the creation of narrative itself.