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2011 SLIFF Day 1: Action from Germany and Brian Jun

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 11, 2011 - 3 (drei), Directed by Tom Twyker, 119 minutes/Germany, 2 p.m. at Plaza Frontenac; 9:45 p.m., Sat., Nov. 12 at Plaza Frontenac

From its mesmerizing opening, a view of the sky from a moving train, the film -- like life itself -- moves inexorably forward, in all of its messiness and absurdity.

For the ueber-busy but romantically bored Berliners Hanna (Sophie Rois) and Simon (a touching performance by Sebastian Schipper) one's not the loneliest number; two is. Despite demanding careers and personal crises that squeeze into every minute, Hanna and Simon both are afflicted with a nagging emptiness. Into this swirling eddy comes a catalyst, Adam (David Striesow), and unknown to each other, both Hanna and Simon tumble into an affair with Adam.

Director Tom Twyker uses split screens effectively to capture the rush of all their lives, together and separately, but he knows when to linger and let the moment simmer -- as in the languid scenes in the "swimming ship."

Just as Twyker finds humor in the foibles of life, he finds them in death as well. In a funny but macabre subplot, Simon's mother, whose numerological suicide fails to go according to plan, wills her body to be plasticined and displayed in Body Worlds.

A dark comedy, with a perhaps too easy ending, "3" is at its best when it refuses to play by the numbers.

-- Susan Hegger, Beacon issues and politics editor

Joint Body

Directed by Brian Jun
86 minutes | U.S.
6:30 p.m. Wildey Theater, Edwardsville; 4 p.m. Nov. 13 Tivoli

Webster University graduate Brian Jun packs an awful lot into "Joint Body." After seven years in prison, Nick Burke (played with -- usually -- a good con's stoicism by Mark Pellegrino) gets paroled.

The movie goes through Burke's first seven days of freedom, during which he tries a 12-step program, finds a job, learns his alienated brother is now a cop, meets a tough-but-kind stripper and is involved in a shootout. And that's just part of the action, perhaps too much action. The gritty realism comes without relief, and certainly moves quickly enough to carry you along. Burke seems to find some measure of peace at the end, though no "good" resolution can really be imagined. Is it worth joining him on his journey? Yes.

--Donna Korando, Beacon features editor

Nov. 11 Schedule

Tivoli

  • Coriolanus 7 p.m.
  • David 7:45 p.m.
  • 96 Minutes 9:30 p.m.
  • Shorts 1: Horror 9:45 p.m.

Plaza Frontenac

  • Drei (3) 2 p.m.
  • A Useful Life 2 p.m.
  • Norwegian Wood 3:45 p.m.
  • Cirkus Columbia 4:30 p.m.
  • A Dangerous Method 7 p.m.
  • Burke and Hare 7:15 p.m.
  • Outrage 9 p.m.
  • Tyrannosaur 9:15 p.m.

Washington University

  • The Baron of Arizona 7 p.m.

Webster University

  • An Evening with Bill Plympton 7 p.m.

Wildey

  • Joint Body 6:30
  • Chico and Rita 9 p.m.

Susan Hegger and Donna Korando

Susan Hegger comes to St. Louis Public Radio and the Beacon as the politics and issues editor, a position she has held at the Beacon since it started in 2008.
Donna Korando started work in journalism at SIU’s Daily Egyptian in 1968. In between Carbondale and St. Louis Public Radio, she taught high school in Manitowoc, Wis., and worked at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the copy editor and letters editor for the editorial page from 1973-77. As an editorial writer from 1977-87, she covered Illinois and city politics, education, agriculture, family issues and sub-Saharan Africa. When she was editor of the Commentary Page from 1987-2003, the page won several awards from the Association of Opinion Page Editors. From 2003-07, she headed the features copy desk.