Poison (2023)

Poison is a miniature masterclass in how to build suspense with nothing more than a room, a few voices, and the terrifying idea that one wrong move could be fatal. Wes Anderson turns Roald Dahl’s premise into a tightly wound, darkly funny pressure cooker, where precise staging and storybook visuals make every breath feel measured and every pause feel loaded. Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, and Ben Kingsley play the escalating panic and professionalism with razor control, and the camerawork keeps you locked into the moment as if you’re holding still right alongside them. It’s brisk, stylish, and quietly sharp in what it has to say, though if you’re allergic to Anderson’s theatrical artifice or don’t like your comedy edged with discomfort, it may not be your flavor—but for everyone else, it’s a gripping short that lingers.

Poison is Wes Anderson doing what he does best: a meticulously staged, Roald Dahl–flavored chamber piece where the tension comes from stillness, precision, and three excellent actors playing a high-wire situation. If you’re expecting a proper comedy-thriller with escalating danger and a satisfying payoff, this can feel like a beautifully designed exercise that ends just as it’s about to dig deeper, with themes that land more as a pointed statement than an emotional journey. The stylized narration and theatrical presentation keep you at an intentional distance, which some viewers will read as clever and others as cold. Worth your time if you enjoy Anderson’s dollhouse storytelling and can accept that the “thrill” here is mostly psychological and the substance is deliberately compact.