The HBO "documentary" There Is No "I" in Threesome is one of those rare documentaries that actually shows us nudity. Not only that, but it explores polyamory and open relationships - their rises and falls! It turns out there is a lot more to this story than what any review of the movie tells you, so let me just say I will reveal a couple of twists (not all of them) here. Be warned! One thing I will spoil for you right away is that there is cock...a lot of cock!
Jan Oliver Lucks is the filmmaker who also stars in this movie about a couple in New Zealand who want to document their love and their experiment to open their relationship. That is when the first twist comes in: they are long distance. They live in cities on opposite ends of the country, so their open relationship is convenient.
Now here comes the second big twist: are you ready? When the filmmaker was making this movie, he let the movie and the experiment get in the way of their relationship. Unfortunately, the couple broke up. WHAT?! Who couldn't see that coming? No judgment on the polyamory, it just sounded like making a movie about it was a lot of pressure. That pressure got to the relationship, but our heroic filmmaker was determined to keep making his movie. Unfortunately, his ex-girlfriend took her half of the footage so he couldn't make the movie the way he initially intended. That didn't stop him. Well, wait? How? Okay, let me tell you...
He basically hires an actress to play his girlfriend (who is an actress in real life, stick with me even though this is confusing). So they reenact what was going on in the original relationship with this new actress. So now he had his original footage plus the ones that they recreated. Is that really a documentary then? Those are some of the questions that surround this very exhibitionist hybrid film. No matter what questions and critiques you have about this unique story, you get plenty of eye candy to enjoy because Jan goes naked A LOT.
These twists and turns make the title make a little more sense. In his selfish pursuit to make the film and do a grand experiment for a good movie, he wound up losing sight of partnership - no matter how many partners he had! In the end, this is a good meditation on love and life, even if it feels a little self-indulgent. Hey, if he wants to get nude like that then he can indulge away.
