Perhaps best known as Det. Rey Curtis, the impossibly clean-cut, religiously devout homicide investigator who spent four seasons patrolling the Law & Order beat on NBC, Benjamin Bratt has lately shown off his darker side – first as a recovering junkie turned unorthodox sobriety counselor on A&E’s The Cleaner, and now as Che, a mostly reformed ex-con from San Francisco’s Mission District, in La Mission.

For Bratt, a San Francisco native whose three-year romance with Julia Roberts made him a temporary tabloid staple during the late ’90s, it seems only fitting that La Mission (directed by his brother, Peter) kicks off opening-night ceremonies for the city’s 52nd annual International Film Festival. Filmed on location over the course of 26 hectic days, the movie chronicles Che’s attempts to overcome his demons, and to accept his son’s homosexuality.