By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Starring: Chloe Sevigny | Ian Roberts | Lucy Liu | Olympia Dukakis | Sandra Oh | Shawn Ashmore | Stockard Channing
Country: canada
Year: 2006
Running time: 127
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445161/
Michael says: “3 NEEDLES is Thom Fitzgerald’s A.I.D.S. epic, spanning three continents, telling three stories, and clearlyva movie that was a labor of love, in addition to clearly being a labor of high finances. In Africa, three nuns double as nurses assisting the doctors who must face the rampant epidemic of A.I.D.S. while an uncaring white power turns a blind eye to rape, and unprotected sex. In China the drawing of blood for the black market causes an unexplained epidemic that nearly wipes out a village. In Montreal, a young porn star steals his dying father’s blood to pass off as his own in order to pass the HIV test. It’s all wrapped up in sweeping vistas of Africa… so many in fact that they started to annoy me. Chloë Sevigny takes the point as Clara, the novice nun who takes on the powers-that-be in Africa. She acquits herself well, but the role follows a pretty expected path that takes away from the effectiveness of her portrayal. Olympia Dukakis and Sandra Oh round out the trio of nuns, with the former being inexplicably miscast (she even provides the sometimes-unnecessary narration) and the latter being incidental, and hardly needed in the film at all. Lucy Liu is impressive in an all Manadrin-language segment playing a very pregnant blood broker. Shawn Ashmore doesn’t do much as the porn star, but Stockard Channing is amazing as his mother, perfectly delivering the French Canadian accent; yet as a friend mentioned; why not hire a French Canadian actress? I respect Thom Fitzgerald and 3 NEEDLES, but I think the writer/director bit off more than he could chew. 3 cats.”
Chris says: “No film at the festival disappointed me more than Thom Fitzgerald’s latest. He seems to have peaked with his first feature (THE HANGING GARDEN) and hasn’t been able match its ambition and balance since. As the title suggests, this one is a triptych about AIDS. The first story follows a troupe of nuns (Chloe Sevigny, Olympia Dukakis, and Sandra Oh) taking care of a remote African village that has been virtually wiped out by the crisis. The second follows a black-market blood transporter (Lucy Liu in a non-English speaking role) in a similarly remote area of China. The third concerns a young, infected Montreal porn star (Shawn Ashmore) and his mother (an unrecognizable Stockard Channing). Fitzgerald interweaves the stories, but fails to develop many insightful parallels between them. Curiously, the Montreal story drops out of the film for well over a half-hour; given that it’s the least involving of the three says something about Fitzgerald’s lack of faith in it. As Michael also noted, the entire film would’ve worked better had Fitzgerald stuck to one story. While far from perfect, the African sections have the makings of a haunting, profound fable. As is, however, the finished project is a bloated, wounded beast, albeit one with scattered moments good enough to match anything in the director’s oeuvre. Think smaller, Thom. 3 cats”