Three Months

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jared Frieder directs. Chananun Chotrungroj behind the camera. Roger Neill scores. Robert Hoffman cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 4 years ago.
• 2Directed by Jared Frieder, shot by Chananun Chotrungroj. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Roger Neill. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Robert Hoffman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Troye Sivan and Viveik Kalra and Brianne Tju carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "It's amazing what you can discover when life gets f*cked up.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt5322004 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 79 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Chananun Chotrungroj

Original score

Roger Neill

Editing

Robert Hoffman

Production design

Kathrin Eder

Costume design

Whitney Anne Adams

Makeup / hair

Carol Rasheed

VFX supervisor

Marc Bloch

Runtime

104 min · 1h 44m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Three Months (2022) ↗

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb280390232022-09-08
  ★ 6/10

  Three Months is such a sweet, touching little film that it makes me wish the script didn’t force the protagonist, Caleb, to ride around solo on a tandem bike. Sure, Caleb has an emotional attachment to the thing (it belonged to his dead father), it comes in handy to the plot now and then (in a ‘hey, I have an extra seat in case you need a lift’, or ‘oops sorry, there’s three of us and only two seats’ sort of way), and it doesn’t even look like it’s that much harder than riding a normal bike — but still, the whole idea smacks of a desperate cry for attention; writer/director Jared Frieder’s way of making sure we know how quirky his main character is supposed to be. A movie can be, and this one otherwise is, original and spontaneous without making its main character look dumb or crazy, neither of which Caleb is; as a matter of fact, he more often than not comes across as a very intelligent young man — so much so, indeed, that it’s hard to justify his preferred mode of transportation. He certainly makes other questionable choices, but these stem more from a careful observation of human nature than from the plot’s requirements. Fortunately, Three Months is, more so than the destination, about the journey — even if the journey partly takes place on “a gay two-man bike” (by the way, the film contains a nicely understated sense of humor) —, which seemingly starts out as a queer version of Clerks, but will eventually distinguish itself through a knack for the unexpected. There is romance in it — and some of the most moving moments involve Caleb’s tentative, puppy-love relationship with the popcorn-loving Estha (the popcorn thing is also gimmicky, though nowhere near as much as the tandem bike) — but it’s not a romantic comedy; similarly, the action revolves around Caleb’s wait for a future revelation, but by the time the titular three months are up, the nature of the knowledge he has been expecting is rendered moot, superseded by the wisdom he has gained along the way

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2023-09-05
  ★ 6/10

  I was watching this for ages before I cottoned on that Viveik Kalra was the young lad from the Springsteen-themed "Blinded by the Light" (2019). In this, he plays the slow-burning love interest for "Caleb" (Troye Sivan). This latter man had a one night stand that exposed him, inadvertently, to an HIV risk that requires him to spend the next three months behaving himself and waiting for a series of test results to, hopefully, give him the all-clear. His doctor advises that he attend a group therapy session and that's where he meets the shy "Estha" and... This starts off quite strongly and it's easy to see why Sivan is successful as an "influencer" - he has charisma and personality which he brings, quite cheekily, to this drama. The story quickly runs out of steam though, and despite some charmingly feisty performances from Ellen Burstyn as his grandmother and Louis Gossett Jr. as her beau "Benny" the quality of the writing quickly drops away and the story loses pretty much all of it's impetus - not really aided by a rather silly sub-plot with his pal "Dara" (Brianne Tju) and their boss "Suzanne" (Judy Greer). It's really just a vehicle for the star, and he does just enough to keep it afloat - it's a pity that the story didn't have a bit more meat on it's bones.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  MTV Entertainment Studios

  US

• TH

  The Allegiance Theater

  US

• PO

  POPFilms

Key crew

• Set DecorationMelisa Jusufi
• Sound Effects EditorRaymond Park
• Sound RecordistAmanda Zohar
• Visual Effects SupervisorMarc Bloch
• Makeup Department HeadCarol Rasheed
• Costume SupervisorKristin Morlino
• Visual Effects SupervisorJose Marra
• Art DirectionHarrison Paul
• Executive ProducerTrevor Rose
• CastingJessica Kelly
• Executive ProducerTim Crane
• Executive ProducerPamela Post
• EditorRobert Hoffman
• ProducerLara Alameddine
• Co-ProducerMargaret Goodman
• Music SupervisorLinda Cohen
• ProducerDaniel Dubiecki
• ProducerAlexander Motlagh
• Costume DesignWhitney Anne Adams
• Production DesignKathrin Eder
• Executive ProducerJared Frieder
• Second Unit DirectorDaniel Dubiecki
• GafferHollywood Heard

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• miami, florida
• coming of age
• hiv
• lgbt
• lgbt teen
• gay theme

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2022-02-23· Paramount+
• Digital2022-02-23R· Paramount+