Article Feedback:
User Rating 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
(1 review)
11 Write a review


Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
Poison Friends, September 29, 2009
By RobertOrr

"Poison friends is a film about literary genius gone awry, and the need for a counter balance to bad behavior. There is manipulation, friendship, nurture, and jealousy.
Andre, the lead character is a talented genius writer, who loses the support of his Thesis Master after failing to meet deadlines. The watershed event leads Andre down a path of lies, deceit, and finally abandonment.
Andre becomes a self-appointed literary critic to his circle of friends. They tolerate his behavior because he is the star student of a great thesis master, and because Andre's crticism, although brutal, is based on compelling arguments from other great writers. He quotes and critcizes those writers with his intelligent analysis of their words. He argues for one writer, who says writing should be done out of 'necessity', and crticizes another writer for 'comparing' the art of writing to an 'itch' that needs to be cured. Andre is passionate about his opinions, but the viewer never sees the proof of Andre's passion in any of his own writing. He reminds you of a talented film critic who's never written a screenplay, or the voice coach who's never recorded a song.
In the meantime, Andre's friends are becoming successful in their own right, as playwrights, and authors. Andre's criticisms produce the un-intended affect of making them better writers.
Andre's ego can not handle their success. He publically berates one friend. He deletes his girlfriend's work from her computer. He almost ruins a friend's relationship by asking the man to hide from his girlfriend, and then he lies to the man's girlfriend.
The nurturing roles in the film come from the females. It is important to mention this, because they become the counter-balance to Andre's behavior. One friend's mother removes her son's writing from the trash, and has it published (His low self -esteem, made worse by Andre, caused him to feel the work was not publish-worthy). The play writer berated by Andre, has a supportive girlfriend, who participates in his stage play. The same author who threw out his earlier work writes a book, Poison Friends, (The title which this film is based upon), with the support of Andre's former writer/girlfriend.
The film is well written, well acted, and is a good character study into some of the human causes that motivate intelligent, sane people to do destructive things, and how support from others can be detrimental to our success."

Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No