Saw THREE NEEDLES at the Brattle tonight. Excellent, tragic, angering film. The movie tells three stories set in different parts of the world—China, South Africa, and Canada—all propelled forward by the use of a needle, and not the knitting kind, either. They are parables, cautionary folk tales, about how, in spite of the means, knowledge, and education to combat it, a sickness can exploit human beings' greed, selfishness, and superstition to its advantage, ensuring its continued spread of devastation.In China, Lucy Liu plays an illegal blood collector, visiting remote towns and offering their residents a modest fee for the donation of their blood, which she resells for a black market profit.
In Canada, the X-MEN's Iceman plays an adult film star whose continued financial well-being depends on consistently testing clean before going to work. On his way into the clinic one day, he sees a former costar leaving in tears... If you were in his situation, how far would you go to keep your income flowing to support your ailing father and hardworking waitress mother (played by Stockard Channing)?
In South Africa, Chloe Sevigny, Sandra Oh, and Olympia Dukakis are novices and nun, assigned to a mission attached to a small hospital/hospice, dedicated to saving as many souls as possible from an afterlife in Purgatory. Many of the locals are employed by a corporate plantation, and when a virus spreads among them, and from them to other villagers, the missionaries do what they can to ease the suffering of the afflicted, keep the children of broken families together, and convince the plantation manager to contribute to the health care of his employees and families. Faced with an apparently futile and hopeless situation, Chloe's young novice decides that the Church's mission of saving souls, and not necessarily loving them, does not go far enough, and takes some radical steps of her own.
All in all, the three stories paint bleak pictures of humanity's ability to combat a virus in the 21st century. The virus itself is never explicitly named, but you might take as a clue that the film opened on December 1 this year, World AIDS Day.
I'm just sayin~
I'm also just sayin, as heartpunching as the stories are, the weaknesses of humanity in the face of this biological assault is countered, to varying degrees, by compassion, humor, and love. You are allowed to laugh at some genuinely funny and sweet moments in the midst of the tragedy. It plays for two more nights at the Brattle—SEE it!
For more eloquent and insightful words on THREE NEEDLES, please read writer-director Thom Fitzgerald's notes on the film.
If you look up the Brattle schedule, check out the current HAIR HIGH (new animation from Bill Plympton), and upcoming INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch's latest, which premiered at the Brattle this weekend), and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ("Zuzu's petals!")!
Keep on keepin on~
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