Poison
dir. Todd Haynes · 1991
Plot
Three intercut stories about outsiders, sex and violence. In "Hero," Richie, at age 7, kills his father and flies away. After the event, a documentary in cheesy lurid colors asks what Richie was like and what led up to the shooting. In the black and white "Horror," a scientist isolates the elixir of human sexuality, drinks it, and becomes a festering, contagious murderer; a female colleague who loves him tries to help, to her peril. In "Homo," a prisoner in Fontenal prison is drawn to an inmate whom he knew some years before, at Baton juvenile institute, and whose humiliations he witnessed. This story is told in dim light, except for the bright flashbacks.
Why watch
A young boy named Richie commits an unthinkable act, killing his father and then inexplicably flying away, while a lurid documentary attempts to dissect the tragedy. Watching this film is like stepping into a fever dream where the boundaries of reality blur, and the grotesque intertwines with the intimate, leaving you unsettled and questioning the nature of identity and desire.