What starts off looking like a standard issue Netflix doc about a zany family—replete with insulting reenactments and that creeping sense that you’ve just signed on for two hours with people who only think their story is worth telling—rapidly becomes one of the most complex, even shocking adoption stories you’ll ever hear.
Short version: Within the space of a couple of days in 1980, three 19-year-old triplets who have never even heard of one another’s existence, meet and become brothers, friends, and NYC media darlings. But the story of why they had never met—why, in fact, their existence was intentionally kept a secret—involves a conspiracy worthy of a psychological thriller. The ramifications of that conspiracy proved devastating, and continue to reverberate. As the story of Three Identical Strangers unravels (with perhaps one notch more manipulation than is required, but that’s a nit not everyone would pick), you become astonished by the layers of complexity and injustice these three guys have experienced. And it doesn’t take long before your initial impressions are totally forgotten: These guys aren’t just lovable doofballs telling well-rehearsed chestnuts about their kooky life. They’re people who have suffered unimaginable hardship and now bravely submit it to further public scrutiny in the hopes of solving the mystery at the center of their lives.
Three Identical Strangers screens tonight and next Tue., May 29, at the 44th annual Seattle International Film Festival, which happens through June 10. More recommended SIFF films here; and all SIFF films here.
