Poison Review
This arresting feature debut from the always interesting Todd Haynes explores human differences and alienation in the form of three seamlessly interweaved storylines. As in Dottie Gets Spanked and Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Haynes draws from familiar cinematic genres and devices to tell his distinct and bizarre tales. Genuinely subversive, even if its parts are sometimes greater than the whole, this film feels like the truest form of independent cinema -- endlessly inventive despite its low budget. Based in part on the writings of Jean_Genet, the film is at times peculiar and difficult to follow, but worth sticking with, if only for its striking originality. Poison was partly funded by the NEA, a fact that stirred up controversy when the film was eventually released with an NC-17 rating due to a shot of an erect penis. Many have speculated that it was the film's gay context -- not just one "obscene" shot -- that was under attack by anti-NEA forces. Jason Clark, Rovi
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