2018 Directed by Tim Wardle
New York, 1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they're identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives - and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.
Dimitri Doganis Amy Entelis Courtney Sexton Sara Ramsden Adam Hawkins Tom Barry Grace Hughes-Hallett Becky Read
A film so caught up in itself that it winds up falling victim to its own media circus and "wow" factor. It purports to be about deep, serious issues, but it's too dismissive, manipulative, and unfocused where it actually matters. Simply an extremely rushed assembly line of paying lip service to legitimately intriguing topics, all in service of a thesis that's far too simple for its own good. Each piece of new information is treated like a plot twist rather than an important element of the story. The actual story is great, but the filmmaking is less so.
*Spoiler below...? but please read anyway, it's not something you'll be surprised by if you watch the movie*
Also, the way it…
Do not watch the trailer for this movie. I didn’t, and the experience was all the better for it.
I saw Sorry to Bother You last night and immediately made the claim that it was the most shocking thing I’d ever watched in a movie theater. Just one day later, after seeing Three Identical Strangers, there’s already a new - albeit very different - competitor for that title. I can’t say much more about this, except that while Won’t You Be My Neighbor is an inspiring and beautiful documentary film, this is an infinitely more creative and well-executed story - and that’s not just from the merits of the source material. The direction here is, at times, completely magnificent.
Wow, I was going to make this a review with spoilers, but I’m writing it on my phone and it’s not giving me the option.
So bear with me.
It seems that most of the story is given away in the trailer, but the documentary goes far deeper than that. Much like Errol Morris’ Tabloid, once you don’t think I can get any crazier, it does.
It also explored nature vs. nurture pretty well. On the outside, the three identical brothers seemed identical on a superficial level. As they dug deeper, the differences between the triplets and how they were raised was astounding. Several genetic factors played a part in how they turned out, but the different environments also proved to be a huge consideration.
The editing, pacing, and careful unveiling of surprises was done in an immaculate manner.
This was the 252nd film I saw using Movie Pass.
Some good stuff, though since all of those interviewed are viewing the events in retrospect, there's a huge problem. The suicide of Eddy means everyone is looking for a scapegoat, and the twin studiers plus Eddy's adoptive dad get the horns. But in my mind the implicit suggestion that the the other boys (and hence the latent genetic base) harbored no self-destructive seeds and so there must have been something in Eddy's nurturing that did him in is wrongheaded.
Furthermore, the simplistic nature/nurture divide returned to again and again is not supported by DNA research that clearly shows a dynamic relation between environment and genetic expression. Why were no geneticists interviewed?
It’s pretty engaging, even if it eventually gets way out of its depth when attempting to answer some of the headier, psychological questions that become central to the story as it goes on.
Not a huge fan of some of the editing forcing you to revisit clips over and over, but a very well presented story with gripping turns if not twists.
A beautiful film in its execution, like peeling back the petals of a flower is what comes to mind. Amusing and moving, at this point my favourite film at MIFF18 and would highly recommend.
NZIFF #9
Fascinating and probes surprisingly dark and existential waters it’s also very effectively structured but that’s difficult to talk about without ruining things. Formally rather pedestrian and the film is not really equipped to wrestle with some of the more challenging psychological questions it asks but it’s not really to the films detriment in any significant way.
Has been an interesting festival. Missed a lot of things I wish I hadn’t (CLIMAX and COLD WAR chief among them). NZ without the NZIFF would be a bleak landscape for cinema going indeed so hats off to everyone who makes it happen every year. Roll on 2019.
As a jewish adoptee who’s always had origin queries and has pondered the mysteries of nature/nurture, this totally fucked with me
I'm trying to think, but this may have been the first documentary I've ever seen in a theater and it is a fucking powerhouse one at that. This is probably the best documentary I’ve seen since OJ: Made in America.
It's the type of doc that leaves you re-assessing everything you once knew about the subject matter and how it relates to your own life (nature vs. nurture).
Stylistically this is a lot like the criminally underrated Wormwood on Netflix where it's half-documentary, half-reenactment, but here, I can say it's a lot less distracting and restrained.
This is a masterclass in shifting tone. One minute its a joyous and overwhelming as these brothers have found each other in the most…
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