DIRECTED BY: George Miller
WRITTEN BY: George Miller, Augusta Gore, Based on the book “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt
STARRING: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba and Pia Thunderbolt
As we enter a world of fantasy…complete with passion, intrigue, love and genies, initially created by writer A.S. Byatt, and which has been brought to the big screen by genius film maker, George Miller, we venture into a much more tame, and rather stoic world than his Mad Max futuristic dramas of days gone by. Enter Alithea (Tilda Swinton), a lonely intellectual, who travels to Istanbul and finds herself facing her own lonely contentment, and rather peculiar existence, with nothing but style and grace…
When she happens upon a beautiful bauble of glass in a gift shoppe, her life is about to turn upside down, when upon inspection of this bottle, she releases a Djinn (Idris Elba), who of course offers her three wishes that he will bestow upon her, in exchange for what he has longed for the thousands of years…his freedom.
Torn by her knowledge of mythology, and the stories of past encounters with Djinn’s, Alithea is cautious to not be hasty about what she wishes for, as the Djinn proceeds to explain how he ended up confined for centuries, as wish-maker, after wish-maker, saw fit to put him back into the bottle, much to his dismay…
As a relationship between Alithea and the Djinn starts to develop, they both realize that they are both better off, having found one another…
Now as Alithea seems to be falling deeper and deeper for the masterful Djinn, she finally knows exactly what she wants to wish for…but will she ultimately utter the words that can make their lives oh, so happy??
I give THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING a rating of 2 out of 5 Stars: I have thoroughly enjoyed George Miller’s Mad Max films, as seeing the original at party at Washington University back in 1986, was one of the reasons I started dating my husband, as we were both so into his totally futuristic f1979 film. And I was totally taken in too by 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, as we experience the evolution of his futuristic concepts full force. But this particular George Miller film, with all of its fantasy and masterful imagery, and the perfect Djinn played by the incredibly talented Idris Elba, didn’t manage to hit the same chords with me, as his previous films did. I mean, don’t get me wrong, experiencing the past lives of the Djinn, as he explains his existence, did at times peak my senses with some very intriguing experiences over thousands of years, which were compelled to greatness by some totally fabulous CGI, and buoyantly beautiful cinematography. The problem for me with Three Thousand Years of Longing, stems from Swinton’s very stoic, and unemotional caution that she displays throughout this film, and she decides whether she will, or won’t wish upon her hearts desires, like every other human on the planet. I think part of the issue is that Swinton played this role as she plays almost every role I’ve seen her in…and I think this role deserved more passion, more expression, and more longing conveyed for the life she ultimately wants. Elba was superb as the Djinn, but I think his role became diminished too, by the lack of passion that seems to happen between them, when Alithea returns to her mundane normal life, with him tagging along.
When I spoke with the rep from the Studio at the advanced screening, I asked for some time to mull what I had just experienced over, as I didn’t hate this one at first glance, but I wasn’t extremely entertained throughout either. And even when I sat down to ponder this entire work by George Miller, I still came to the same conclusion…that as much as I wanted to love this beautifully produced fantasy film, it just didn’t end up being the fabulous film, I so wanted it to be…
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 