With so many films starting strong and then sputtering out, 3 Needles is that rare wobbler worth hanging in there for. Three sad stories about the spread of HIV on three continents are interwoven awkwardly, but Canadian Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden) builds towards scenes of great power, moral complexity and stunning natural beauty.

Lucy Liu stands out as a blood collector in rural China. Chloë Sevigny gets progressively more interesting as a nun who combats apathy and superstition in South Africa. However, the story of a Montreal porn actor (Shawn Ashmore) fails to take flight, while other big names are either miscast (why import Stockard Channing to play a Québécoise?) or underutilized (Sandra Oh gets to make little mischief in her nun's habit).