Three stories from three continents linked only by the harrowing effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

3 Needles follows three narratives: Clara (Chloe Sevigny), a novice nun sent to a coastal South African missionary to convert the dying; Jin Ping (Lucy Liu) as she runs a blood collection service in rural China, paying the eager villagers $5 a time, as their blood is contaminated by unsanitary equipment; and Denny (Shawn Ashmore), a struggling porn actor in Montreal who desperately dodges HIV tests to support his ailing family. What links them all, as the title suggests, is the various means of the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Thom Fitzgerald has previously dealt with the subject in two of his previous films (including The Event ), and has recently taken the unusual step of coming out of the closet as not having HIV/AIDS. “I put this rather personal disclosure out into the world because it's MORE insensitive to let some folks go on thinking that the only people who should be interested in a pandemic are those directly afflicted.” And this film very much sets out to correct this narrow point of view. The three disparate strands are interwoven by their shared concern for the spread of HIV, which is increased in different measures by ignorance, poverty, superstition, fear and even greed.

Unfortunately, the film's good intentions are let down by the arbitrary splicing together of the three stories. This is almost entirely due to the awkward inclusion of the Canadian thread which spoils the flowing rhythm of cuts between the thematically similar Chinese and African stories. Denny's story feels like an afterthought, it engenders by far the least sympathy, and more importantly the least understanding of the subject. Most will also be left cold by his mother's (Stockard Channing) over-the-top, underdeveloped and frankly unbelievable reaction to his infection.

But even these misgivings cannot remove the power of the other two stories. Thomas M. Harting's cinematography of the two landscapes is gorgeous and adds genuine lyricism and pathos to the dramatic events that unfold. The contrast between the impossibly beautiful African coastal scenery counterpoints the horror and poignancy of the ravaging effects of AIDS when combined with poverty and superstition.

Chloe Sevigny's turn as novice is initially underwhelming, but comes to the fore as she struggles with her Order's focus on saving the villagers souls, but not their lives. To this end Clara is willing to exchange sex with Hallyday, a South African corporate plantation owner (an excellent Ian Roberts), to secure the money and power to bring much needed help.

Curiously, the senior nun (an underused Olympia Dukakis) barely figures in the story, but it is her overly parental narration that intermittently appears to link the narratives. This device feels contrived and Fitzgerald should have had the confidence to let the stories speak for themselves.

Although the heavily pregnant Ping is the Chinese thread's initial focus, the real emotional heart lies with poor rice farmer Tong Sam, whose daughter, wife and eventually whole village is stricken by the virus. Thia actor, Tanabadee Chokpikaltony, plays Tong's grief and anger sensitively and quietly.

3 Needles is two-thirds a powerful, well-acted and yet surprisingly restrained film that is unfortunately heavily weakened by a poor third narrative.