The Poison Rose
released 2019
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“The Poison Rose” (known internationally as “Eye For An Eye”) is an American, detective story, mystery inspired from the classic film noir produced by Barry Brooker, Anson Downes, Jeff Elliott, Linda Favila, Oscar Generale, Andrey Georgiev, Tony Grazia, Andrea Iervolino, Avi Lerner, Danielle Maloni, David E. Ornston, Richard Salvatore, Stan Wertlieb among others. It was directed and written by Francesco Cinquemani. George Gallo also directed it. Luca Giliberto and and Richard Salvatore also wrote the screenplay. It stars John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser, Famke Janssen, Ella Blue Travolta (John´s daughter in real life.), Robert Patrick, Peter Stormare, Kat Graham, Blerim Destani, Devin Ellery, Julie Lott, Walter the cat and many others.

The Poison Rose IMDb webpage

“The Poison Rose” is the story of recluse, drunk, private investigator and former football great Carson Philips, played by John Travolta. He is called back to his hometown in Texas to work on a missing person´s case where he must deal with demons from his past. He uncovers corruption and rot in the process as is so often the case in these story lines. The demon from his past he is most reluctant to face is his former flame Jayne Hunt, played by Famke Janssen. He fled their relationship and moved to L.A., California decades earlier without officially breaking up with her. Carson is a man who fled his hometown because it was discovered that he was throwing games as the town´s all star quarterback. So, instead of temporary fame and superstar status he brought notariety onto himself and that devastated him.

“The Poison Rose” is a small film with its flaws but an interesting story. It´s the story of someone confronting their past and their failures. The main character, Carson, was a great football player back in the day but I got the impression that he never felt he was good enough for reasons that aren´t so clear. The same is true concerning his relationship with Jayne. I got the impression he did not feel good enough for her. One point stories like this make well, (stories of the person coming back to their hometown after many years) is to give us a character that is looking at things from the outside but through the eyes of an insider. That kind of objectivity makes us, the viewer, feel close to the main character and even privy to things others don´t know. I love that perspective where you feel you are solving a mystery alongside the main character and that is why I love these kinds of stories.

Now this is the story of a missing person´s case that turns into a murder case very quickly, a multiple murder case even. You have the strange doctor Miles Mitchell, brilliantly played by Brendan Fraser, whose patients are disappearing, one of whom was Barbara Van Poole who is the woman Carson is looking for. I have to say that Bredan Fraser´s performance was so strange and brilliant it really made this film memorable for me. It reminds me of what Benicio Del Toro did in the film “Usual Suspects”. Miles makes your skin crawl while you laugh, it´s just brilliant. In the case of Brendan Fraser´s acting here, it´s what I call a moment of brilliance where an actor takes a character away from what we see everyday, what we consider normal behavior, into the strange or funny but it works here. In most cases it doesn´t. So, hats off to Brendan Fraser.

The story is more than just finding a missing person or solving a murder. It´s more than just answering the question of who did it? It´s the why it was done that makes this story so interesting.

Like I said. I like this film in spite of its flaws and for the way the story develops. The characters like Carson and Jayne give themselves happy closure to their story because of the decisions they make and the type of people they are. In spite of the corruption and crimes swirling around Carson this story has a happy ending we, the viewers, are glad to see unfold. I went from not caring about Carson to wishing him well at the end and that is why I liked this film.

Anyway, check out “The Poison Rose”. It´s a good watch.

John

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