After getting hit up for conversation with two chatty women at the pool this morning before I’ve even had coffee (both lovely ladies), I suddenly thought, ‘if I found out I was one of a set of triplets, I might not like it!’. Lord! But as a documentary, Three Identical Strangers was a 9 and three-quarters of perfection.
This time I really, really can’t say much as to not to spoil your experience, but I beg you to NOT look up any information about this and and to see the film as Madonna, I mean like a virgin, as I did.
I’ll tell you why it’s great; suspense. From the histrionic New York Times reporter to the laconic father to the fantastic background Hitchcockian string music, this documentary was masterful. And having had a crush on Phil Donahue back in the day, I loved seeing clips from his supreme pre-Oprah audience q & a talk show format.
My only tiny complaint, and this happens often with docs (even the recent RBG) is when as filler, they repeat clips. If I heard once, I heard it twice and fitting to this topic, thrice, that the triplets all smoked the same cigarettes and liked older women…ok, ok, got it the first time.
This might be the first big time flash for British director, Tim Wardle, but surely it won’t be his last. I see from his IMDB page that he currently has a documentary series called Flatback Empire about the company IKEA. Surely there can’t be much suspense there, though wait a minute, unless he documents a couple killing each other after a fight as to how to put together a coffee table…come to think of it, this doc may have legs!
