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3 Needles

Play trailer Poster for 3 Needles 2005 2h 5m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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36% Tomatometer 39 Reviews 68% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
In this triptych portrait of the global AIDS crisis, Jing Pin (Lucy Liu), an expectant mother living in the Chinese countryside, takes blood donations with tainted needles and sells what she's collected on the black market. Meanwhile, at a mission in Africa, three nuns struggle to secure medical care for farmworkers dying of AIDS. And in Montreal, Denys (Shawn Ashmore), an HIV-positive actor, steals his father's blood to fake test results and maintain his career in the porn industry.

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3 Needles

3 Needles

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Critics Consensus

In getting its message about the AIDS epidemic across, the film unfortunately sacrifices story and character.

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Critics Reviews

View All (39) Critics Reviews
V.A. Musetto New York Post Rated: 1/4 Aug 22, 2007 Full Review Noel Murray AV Club The situations are contrived, the ironies are cheap, and the dialogue is overly blunt. Rated: D+ Dec 2, 2006 Full Review G. Allen Johnson San Francisco Chronicle If nothing else, [director Thom] Fitzgerald has demonstrated how huge a challenge the AIDS epidemic is on a worldwide scale, and how it will take a concerted, intelligent effort to solve it. It'll take a lot more than throwing money around. Rated: 2.5/4 Dec 1, 2006 Full Review David Lamble Bay Area Reporter Thom Fitzgerald has taken a giant stride forward in this three-part/three-country parable of the insidious effect of the AIDS virus... May 12, 2020 Full Review David Cornelius DVDTalk.com As a movie with an important message, 3 Needles is an idiotic waste of time. Rated: 1/5 May 27, 2007 Full Review Don Willmott Filmcritic.com great performances and the heartbreaking dilemmas Rated: 3.5/5 Apr 17, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (131) audience reviews
Audience Member I thought all 3 stories were done excellently. Stockard Channing broke my heart in her portrayal of the Mother who gave her all. I think Olympia Dukakis is one of the best, although not a personal favorite role. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Very intelligent. Three stories with one theme. Sad and amazing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member My review back in 2007: Although this movie is filled with good actors, it falls very short of a captivating, inspiring, or intelligent story on the AIDS crisis. I was not fan's of any of these actors or the director, but due to the story subject I was willing to give it a try. The best story was the intial full story ripped from the headlines about AIDS being passed onto innocent Chinese rural citizens. What I was surprised at was that they do not touch on the cover up. After an initial sad, but very truthful story the movie goes quickly downhill from there. The second story is an idiotic and selfish story, that puts in a twist, but doesn't pay off and only is weird. I felt no sympathy for any of the characters in that second story. The third story show's the writer and director's total misunderstanding of Catholic theology, nuns, and their views. Then essentially makes a saint out of a Nun who pimps herself out to a rich western business man for the sake of the dying AID's children to make her out as some saint. It ends up being a sad and idiotic moral to a very real crisis in Africa. This story is not like Babel other than being a losely connected story in various countries. Babel shockingly showed human connection through pain, but this story instead shows nothing of the sort. Instead, it uses a very real crises as a backdrop to some interesting story telling and outright mischaracterization of a faith and promotion of some Unitarian feel good afterschool hogwash. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member A very different look at the AIDS epidemic and how people deal with it in different circumstances. The way the vignettes are depicted is a bit convoluted, but the movie as a whole makes a powerful statement on the human condition nonetheless. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Very good film. I truly recommended it to everyone. Something new, something unusual. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Each of the stories is very harrowing in its own way, but at the end of each there is also hope. The realism of each vignette is harsh and grueling. But without films like this, we would forget the human struggles each of us has to face. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
3 Needles

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this triptych portrait of the global AIDS crisis, Jing Pin (Lucy Liu), an expectant mother living in the Chinese countryside, takes blood donations with tainted needles and sells what she's collected on the black market. Meanwhile, at a mission in Africa, three nuns struggle to secure medical care for farmworkers dying of AIDS. And in Montreal, Denys (Shawn Ashmore), an HIV-positive actor, steals his father's blood to fake test results and maintain his career in the porn industry.
Director
Thom Fitzgerald
Producer
Bryan Hofbauer, Thom Fitzgerald
Screenwriter
Thom Fitzgerald
Production Co
Emotion Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Afrikaans
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 9, 2017
Runtime
2h 5m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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