Three (2010)

Very Cool!!!

Sorry, this movie sucks

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I watched it with English sub-titles some of which were badly worded. I really liked the movie as it built slowly to a (pardon the pun) climax. You get to watch the three of them go about their lives and join in a train wreck. Some clever filming at the art exhibition which I liked. Some interesting thoughts on life and death. Some interesting hints from Simon that he is bi before he gets with Adam. I wondered how the would get to the end however they managed it quite nicely.A lovely unusual story of love and loss and reconciliation. If you like a soppy love story give it a go - you do need to get through the rather arty start and a couple of arty scenes in the middle - skip past them or persevere - I did both the first set of subtitles got out of sync and I had to find another and watch the beginning a second time.

Simon and Hanna have been together for twenty years, they've established the easy peace-that-follows-passion so common in relationships of a certain age. Simon and Hanna are happy. Not the fake-going-through-the- motions happy, but pretty content if not a little rut induced angsty. One day, while participating in a medical ethics symposium, Hanna meets genetic engineer, Adam, with whom she openly spars. She meets him again that night after she is stood-up by Simon at the theater. Meanwhile, Simon is distracted by those of his mother and his own health issues. For a third time, Hanna bumps into Adam, this time on a soccer pitch. They spend the day together drinking, seeing a soccer game, getting to know each other while Simon is being told by his doctor that he must be admitted to the hospital for immediate surgery. He is worried because he can't reach Hanna. While he is having surgery, she is beginning an affair. Hanna is there when he wakes-up and there while he is recovering. Simon is affected a lot by the surgery. I won't say what sort of surgery he had, but it can be quite affecting. Oh, the scene depicting the surgery is brief but pretty graphic. You've been warned. Simon is out one night at the local covered pool where he has an intimate, very intimate encounter with... Wait for it... Adam! Simon is confused, a bit startled and probably mostly curious. The three of them begin these affairs, cultivating new ideas about their sexual selves. Hanna and Simon also rediscover their sexual selves together. And that's just the first half of the film. You know from the set-up that there will come a reckoning, that the party won't last. When that moment comes, the three leads play it beautifully: the sudden sparks of recognition and piecing it all together are priceless. Where the film fails is in the editing. Shakespeare said it best, "brevity is the soul of wit." Some of the exposition could have been left on the cutting room floor. Surely any audience going to see this film could suss out the narrative. The use of the number 3 as part of the narrative falls a bit flat. Given the apparent love triangle, 3 would seem sufficient to reference just that. Where Tykwer works real magic is in his ability to make his actors go all-in. There is no trepidation or fear of laying it all bare before the camera. If you are a fan of the work of Whit Stillman, Wes Anderson or Noah Baumbach, you'll like "3." It's quite good.

Tom Tykwer is the alleged writer and director of the movie "Run Lola Run." Lola was very contemporary, very fast, very cleverly constructed, shock full of witty ideas. Other movies from his filmography have a very distinct Seventies art house film feel to them - Deadly Maria, Winter Sleepers, Heaven and 3. They are painfully slow, full of empty self importance, cover subjects middle aged teachers tend to consider important in life. Except for the name Tom Tykwer they don't have too much in common with "Lola". Don't let the name fool you.Sophie Rois (Hanna) is certainly a strange choice for the leading role in a "Folie a Trois". She doesn't look too nice, is much older than her two male love interests, has a terrible voice and - as Hanna - a personality that would probably drive most men away from her. Hanna is in a long time relationship with Simon (Sebastian Schipper) that obviously went stale quite some time ago. By pure chance she's meets the handsome Adam (Devid Striesow) and has sex with him the first time the same day Simon is told he's got testicular cancer and subjected to surgery on the spot. Losing a testicle must have turned him into half a man, because shortly afterwards he has a chance encounter with the handsome Adam that turns into his first homosexual experience. Good for him that while homosexuality is genetic and has nothing to do with free will, heterosexuality isn't, right? Will the two pairs end up as "Three"? That's actually the big question, the whole story of this movie. Tykwer uses a lot of decoration to make it look more important. Hanna is the presenter of a TV Art Show, Simon works in the art business, Adam in the stem-cell research. Simons mother gets cancer and ends up as a yummy piece of art. Lots of opportunities to touch important issues and show interesting scenes. But even though Tykwer used a budget that in the Seventies would have been enough to make quite a few independent films he manages to present it all in an extremely dull way. You actually feel sorry for all this people with their very fashionable jobs and their shallow existences. Compared to this, the "Menage a Trois" really shines. "3" is part of the pseudo-intellectual art world it so knowingly depicts.When Simon wears his woolly hat and thick glasses he resembles quite a lot the everyday appearance of Dani Lewy, co-owner and co-founder of Tykwer's production company, with his angular shaped face Adam looks quite a bit like timid Tykwer himself. Just saying. Just looking for a reason.I don't know if I missed any kind of explanation for the very strange effects the castration in this movie has. I could easily dismiss it as an embarrassing goof or an inane plot device. But when the end is near even some plants show a surprisingly combative spirit and don't just wither away. The basis topic of "Three" is the midlife crisis, the period in life when people suddenly want much more of things they once had or something completely new. Someone in this troublesome age might find this movie quite interesting, and the ending inspiring, uplifting, depressing or allegorically profound.

This one is a typical movie from Tom Tykwer, but one of his best. Is it constructed? Of course, it is fiction, paired with really good dialogue and performances. I don't know if it will be shown in English, but if you understand the language you should watch it in German. The movie is well crafted like one piece, everything fits perfectly together: the cinematography / the cutting, the music, the plot, the pace and the meaning. It has some scenes with black humour in it, but not too many. And although it deals with fundamental questions of life / death, relationships and sexual orientation, I left the cinema in an uplifted mood. Recommended for people who like Tom-Tykwer- or menage-à-trois-movies (e.g. "Threesome", "Jules and Jim").