Three Identical Strangers (2018)

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Blistering performances.

I love that this documentary starts out by telling the audience that everything they are about to hear is true and really happened. Even with documentaries, you sometimes wonder if anything is embellished or exaggerated, but this one sure seems like it stayed pretty true to its word. And make no mistake, this film is nothing short of extraordinary to watch. It unravels like a narrative film where every twist and reveal is more shocking than the last. So in that way, Three Identical Strangers is just as good if not better than any thriller I have seen in 2018. 9.2/10

Very well produced and well documented story of three separate lives with coming together as one. The emotion that was portrayed from the interviewees was very raw and genuine. The facts that were brought to light were shocking and kept me watching from beginning to end. Very stirring and very heartwarming.Overall very well done documentary about identical twins.

"Three Identical Strangers" (2018 release; 96 min.) is a documentary about identical triplets separated at birth who are adopted into three different families. As the movie opens, Bobby looks in the camera and says "When I tell my story, people don't believe me. I wouldn't believe it, if the story was told to me!" We then go back in time to 1980, when then-19 yr. old Bobby arrives at Sullivan County Community College, and people there call him "Eddie". It doesn't take long to put 2 and 2 together and Bobby and Eddie meet up. The amazing story is picked up by Newsday, and before we know it, a third guy, David, comes forward. They are immediate stars ("go viral" had that term existed back then). At this point we're 10 min. into the movie. What a crazy story, right? You don't know the half of it but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by UK film maker Tim Wardle, making his feature-length film debut. Due to the sensitive nature of what plays out after the starting premise of the movie (identical triples separated at birth reunite!), I dare not say a whole lot more, but the obvious questions that immediately come to mind are of course how the triplets ended up separated at birth, and what became of the birth mother. The documentary takes its time developing (and I mean that as a compliment). It's like the many layers of an onion (and yes, tears may be involved). This documentary reminds me of the excellent documentary "The Imposter" of a few years ago. I mean, you can't make this stuff up, and if you did, nobody would believe it."Three Identical Strangers" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival, to immediate critical acclaim. The movie finally opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati and I simply couldn't wait to see it. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended excellently, I am happy to report. A well-made documentary is one of my favorite things to watch, and this one in particular is a cut above. I'd readily suggest that you check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion. For me, "Three Identical Strangers" is a WINNER.

One documentary but many interesting topics to discuss & many real life questions raised by 'Three Identical Strangers'. Let me just list a few: nature v. nurture, rapidly changing medical ethics, what traits are hereditary, how much of our actions are preprogrammed & how much do we have control over, what price the society should willingly pay for scientific research & when does it become too high, is knowing the truth so important that we would wrap our life in turmoil or is it better not to know such a truth, should the people who have been targeted and been subjects of experiments be now themselves conducting experiments on their own in the name of science etc. 'Three Identical Strangers' unfortunately does not answer these questions though the scientists did set out long ago by conducting these experiments to answer many of these questions but medical ethics evolved during the experimentation that prevented them from publishing a scientific paper. However, the documentary does provide 'feelings' on these profound topics expressed by many people who were either subjects of study or closely related to the subjects. I was deeply engrossed in the movie due to many of its twists & turns. I highly recommend this documentary if this kind of stuff interests you.