Three Thousand Years of Longing

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source: Three Thousand Years of Longing

Tedious, generic, colorful, bland, magical, full of flashbacks, visually stunning, unsatisfying, lifeless, and mediocre. Meh story that feels slopped together and isn't bad to look at but ultimately this is just Aladdin for boomers.

It's a good movie, that should have been excellent but ended up just "good". It's visually magnificent, it has very good acting and it's basic idea is original and even poignant but. There are a few very big buts in stopping it from reaching the potential heights it should've reached. It's getting lost in its own meandering tale, though we've all figured out the point it wanted to make long before it spells it out on the screen. It want's too much to demonstrate it's about storytelling so all the stories we see on screen are so heavily narrated that many of their charming characters end up as puppets with only glimpse of the character they should have, preventing us from really caring for them or in other words leaving us uninvolved with big chunks of the story. The combination of a long meandering plot line that keeps the audience uninvolved is an obstacle almost no movie can survive. If I did enjoy it it's mainly because of the leading couple - Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton - no they're not giving a gut wrenching performance - they're simply very very professional keeping the convoluted plotline from losing us altogether anchoring the viewers to the story without turning it into a soap opera, and it could very easily turn into one so I'm definitely grateful for that professionalism. I simply can't help wondering what could have happened had it fulfilled the potential it most certainly has.

We are advised to see it on the biggest screen possible to fully appreciate this masterpiece of filmmakng. Let's face reality; it's like a made-for-TV movie with an inflated budget. When Idris Met Tilda: "I'll have the salary that she's having!" YOU READ THE BOOK . . . NOW, SEE THE MOVIE! Looking for Love in All the Wrong Vases "Worst genie ever!" ~ Jeff Albertson aka Comic Book Guy "Talk amongst yourselves." ~ Linda Richman.

A lonely scholar (Tilda Swinton) while on a trip buys a bottle, only to discover it contains a genie calling himself The Djinn (Idris Elba), and. Tells her that he will grant her three wishes, but she is reluctand to do so, feeling like the wishes won't turn out right, but in hopes to help her, he tells his life story. But will she have wishes to grant? It's a film that takes you into it's world, a journey into this magical odyessy has only George Miller (Mad Max) can direct it. The effects are at well standard. And the chemistry between Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba is pretty good, playing two lonely lost souls. But I would not want to sit through this again, one time is enough.

Several parables set up a narrative for Idris Elba's lonely, heartsick and surprisingly relatable djinn - while providing a potpourri of short stories with both entertaining and unpredictable narratives. His perspective runs counter to Tilda Swinton's academic, who enters with confidence - only to doubt her most strongly held beliefs. This is an adult fairytale that forces us (as it does Swinton's Alithea, "truth" in Greek mythology) to realize that fulfillment in life comes from the coalescence of science, history, and, yes, faith in following one's heart. Technically, George Miller's team pulls off seamless special effects in a kaleidoscopic backdrop of the Middle East, spanning from the time of King Solomon and Sheba through the Ottomon Empire with stunningly beautiful and often heartbreaking backstories. The musical score never drowns out the dialogue, while the visuals are always adding layers that provide purpose to our characters' motivations. Overall, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a recommended film, that can stand up to analysis due to some unique directorial and story-telling characteristics, while also serving as a satisfying date night with turns that will keep viewers longing to learn the fate of our two lead characters.

The stories are wonderful, and wonderfully shot, till we get to London. Then, the theme and vibe of the film changes - to superficial preaching and banality. Alithea, the directors and writers suggest, is the perfect white woman: childless and alone, satisfied by an academic career (in the pursuit of pseudo-knowledge) and periodic visits by a Djinn. The conspicuous, slow shot of a religious woman in traditional garb pushing a pram passed Alithea's home informs the viewers what a progressive future should be and what actually constituted progress. So too, the old ladies next door simply exist as superficial foils to advance a political harangue; too bad it's entirely unconvincing. Like other reviewers, it's impossible not to note that these scenes occur as the film loses its footing, becoming boring and somewhat aimless in terms of narrative and plot. It ought to have ended sooner than it did, since the first two thirds really were special.