Three Thousand Years of Longing was reviewed out of the Cannes Film Festival, where it made its world premiere. It will hit theaters in the U.S. on Aug. 31, 2022.
Three Thousand Years of Longing, George Miller’s follow-up to his beloved Mad Max: Fury Road, brings the old genie myths up to date with a spectacular cast and some impressive visuals as Alithea (Tilda Swinton) embarks on her very own fairy-tale. A storytelling scholar and self-confessed loner, she’s the perfect foil to encounter a djinn, a spirit-like creature trapped in a glass bottle – yes, the same ones we heard stories about as children. But it’s not all happily ever after as Miller fails to find a satisfying ending.
Three Thousand Years of Longing starts off well with a modern-day twist on the genie-in-a-bottle stories most closely associated with Aladdin. Miller dispenses with the pompous grandiosity of it all as Alithea polishes her “lamp” with an electric toothbrush, unwittingly unleashing the djinn within in the form of Idris Elba. What unfolds is a long, rather interesting examination of myths and legends as the pair wax lyrical over the djinn’s tales of love lost and mistakes made.Of course, he still hasn’t learned his lesson after 3,000 years.
The djinn isn’t like other genies we’ve encountered in the past. For one thing, there’s a sense of humanity to him that we rarely see in stories like these. He’s not just a spirit in a bottle, granting people wishes – he’s a being who loves, who fears, who makes mistakes, and Elba brings a wonderful otherworldly charm to the role.
It’s not exactly one of his best, but the wit and sensitivity Elba exhibits as the forlorn djinn adds a much-needed sensitivity to the age-old myths. Alithea has heard all about these trickster djinn, but he’s not quite the lively Robin Williams or Will Smith-branded genie in a bottle. Instead, Elba flexes as an expert storyteller, regaling Alithea with the long and melancholy tale of how he was trapped in his bottle. All the while, Swinton cross-examines his stories with academic precision – the perfect counterpoint to a whimsical, silver-tongued djinn.
Equally, Swinton is in fine form as the intelligent, fiercely independent Alithea. If anyone could talk their way around a djinn, it would be Swinton, and her casting really helps balance out the fairy-tale musings with a far more grounded, realistic perspective. That said, we’re shown that Alithea is prone to flights of fancy and that certainly comes into play later. But in the meantime, Swinton and Elba display a beautiful back and forth as the Djinn reveals his 3,000-year tale of betrayal, lost love, and a djinn who lets his heart rule his head.
Unfortunately, it all falls flat by the film’s final act. Three Thousand Years of Longing is at its best when Miller lets Swinton and Elba dig deep into the art of storytelling. Confined to Alithea’s hotel room, much of the action comes via flashbacks into the djinn’s tragic story. But the film eventually moves on from this format, allowing Alithea to create her own fairy-tale with a much longed-for happy ending. Ironically, this is where it all goes wrong – with nothing grounding the story, its illogical ending feels out of place. Yes, it’s a movie about genies and wishes… but without Alithea acting as a lightning rod to contain the djinn’s fantasy, it devolves into a simple cautionary tale – the exact cautionary tale that Alithea previously warned us about.
Her sudden, unexplained choices come completely out of nowhere, and perhaps that’s the point. But it feels like an unnatural conclusion to a story which sees Alithea ground the rest of the film. It simply doesn’t work.
Despite the lackluster ending, Three Thousand Years of Longing sports some excellent visuals – especially when Miller is allowed to run rampant through the djinn’s past. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the story of the djinn’s life. There are sumptuous palaces and book-filled bedrooms, and each location feels unique and interesting. Equally, the film’s score sweeps us up in the grandeur of those moments, while deft camera work pulls you deeper into Alithea’s story.
At its best, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a curious examination of storytelling, with some exemplary performances from Elba and Swinton that keep things moving, but then it veers into fairy-tale territory at the worst possible time. An illogical ending really undermines the close reading of myth and narrative that the early film revels in. Had it stayed in this territory, Three Thousand Years of Longing could have been something really special. I wish I could see that film.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/G9OAvaF
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