There are three short films or episodes intercut- there’s a Zelig-like fake documentary, a 50’s B Sci-Fi film and a prison film—it’s connected to DW Griffith’s Intolerance and this style would be used again in The Fountain and Cloud Atlas
Out in 1991- Slacker, after Spike Lee, Soderbergh’s Sex Lies, before Reservoir Dogs – a rich time for the indie movement even if Haynes never reaches the level of these auteurs (or hasn’t yet)
Haynes a constant voice for Queer cinema over the last 25 years- doing strong work—I think in the B-movie for sure we have a bit of Leprosy as AIDS metaphor
The stories/movies/episodes on their own aren’t very good but cut together- the imagination and construct of how it’s told—is strong– an anthology film set differently – lots of passages and quotes from Jean Genet to go along with it
Like most all of Haynes work this is show in 16mm
Feels rough drafty—it’s very hard to make a good film mocking bad films or bad genres
About outcasts, ostracization
Powerful disturbing imagery like the spitting scene
[…] Poison – Haynes […]