"Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family" documents eight years in the relationship between Sam, Steve, and Samantha, three people with very strong personalities, deep love for one another, and little or no precedence for their romantic arrangement. This timely film comes during a period of divide about gay marriage, ever escalating divorce rates, and a bit of media attention on the common law marriages of our favorite celebrities. Interestingly, only the second subject is touched on here.It's a heartbreaking story about three people in search of love in the modern world. Their "tri-nogomous" relationship, as one person phrased it, is thankfully never exploited or shown as anything but far more challenging than the love between two. They are regular people who are at times quite boring, at times charming, and in the final act rather bitter.The film leaves an ache in your heart, because everything about the first two-thirds of the film felt hopeful and stable. It's unsettling to feel that a film that could inspire mainstream society to be more open to alternative visions of what means marriage and what means love could also be the reason it remains closed. This documentary is definitely a good springboard for discussion.

this movie was an amazing journey to follow through these people and their lives, as well as the effect of their 'lifestyle choice' upon family members and outsiders.ultimately the movie is about self-acceptance and responsibility. bringing to light all the issues faced by people of such situations and also really allowing them to voice their experiences.i completely fell in love with all of them because their love was actually very real. it was incomprehensible to me before i entered the theatre and yet by the end of the movie my heart was aching for all of them.i found the movie incredibly moving. i guess you end up feeling as if you've just met three new friends and you empathise with all of them as they share their lives with you. it was all just so real.it has nothing to do with the kinky connotations of such a situation and everything to do with three people in this world craving the security and foundations of a truly and deeply loving relationship, and wherein they could create a beautiful, happy world to bring up children into. that then, of course, complicates things further as children tend to do with people and their lives...suddenly issues are magnified and responsibilities are evident. the wonderful thing about this movie is that the characters are so honest. and in their honesties you see their strive towards the ultimate goal of living a happy and fulfilling life. it is inspirational to see how they have had to deal with all the pressures of society and family members and really end up dealing with themselves as they are. and it just doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, or whatever because the story isn't really about sexuality so much as it is about being un-mainstream. too many people live in this world continuing to fool themselves believing that they will remain happy as long as everyone else around them is happy and satisfied with the way they portray themselves (as 'normal'). not enough people in this world really look into the mirror and accept themselves just as they are and allow the rest of the world to either accept it or not.it's impossible to please everyone. at the end of the day, you have to accept things for yourself. (and for your children, after you've decided to have them). i highly recommend this movie to anyone who cares about living their lives as self-assured, happy people of society. and for anyone who loves to analyse human relationships and try to learn anything from viewing other peoples' lives.

Very good documentary. It's about two gay men (Sam Cagnina and Stephen Margolin) who want a woman in their relationship. They finally find Samantha Singh. They all live together and have sex together (not shown). Then Samantha gets pregnant. They're all happy--but the birth of a child sets off some unexpected feelings...and this family might not survive.I saw this at a film festival and, for some technical reason, they could only show it in black & white, not color. That may have affected my rating but I don't think so.This is a totally fascinating movie following a different type of family and how it works and survives. It was shot over the space of 8 years so you see them grow and change--in good and bad ways. Totally absorbing but it is a little too long--it could have been cut by a few minutes. Still it's an excellent documentary and should be seen by all open-minded people interested in a new type of family. Recommended.

Sitting down to review a documentary is a little different from sitting down to review a regular movie. It's easier at times to discuss themes and framing devices and paralleling than it is to discuss a documentary about eight years of a 3-person marriage that's just about people. This one is harder because the documentary's director was a friend of the family. In the Q&A after the movie, she mentioned having known one of the male partners since elementary school, and the other since high school. At times in the documentary, I wanted very much to ask the people involved, "But wait. Didn't that make you incredibly angry/jealous/etc?" Sadly the person that I most wanted to ask about that had to return to New York after Friday's showing. The director really did seem to soft-pedal the relationship, making it seem very much like all was well in their marvelous little world (indeed, she mentioned afterwards, when she discussed getting some more footage after a break of about 2 years, that she went back *after* someone saw what she had put together and said "there's no conflict; they're too happy."). Their families accepted it after a bit, the parents of all three treat their children as grandchildren, etc., etc. At one point, Samantha, the female partner, mentions, "After I told my family about this, my mother didn't speak to me for three months." but that's it, and it comes after evidence that they're talking now. There's nothing about actually *living* the way they do - no one gives an opinion that's anything but positive, for most of the film.The end result is a movie that doesn't have much perspective, until the last fifteen minutes or so, and if it wasn't for said last 15 minutes, there would really be little point to seeing the film. While one of the leads, Sam, is incredibly funny, and they all make some interesting comments about their relationship, the general result for anyone who has spent time in the poly community is 'yeah, but I've thought about that.'All in all, while it was interesting/funny to watch, and intriguing at times, it's not a YOU MUST SEE THIS movie event. It's just a quiet little film with some interesting people. It will be of slightly more interest to those who have little contact with the poly world, to see just how the trio deal with a number of things that people often assume can only be handled in pairs. Poly people will possibly want to see it simply because of the subject matter, but will likely leave it saying, "where is all the actual *life* here?"