After seven long years, director George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) returns with Three Thousand Years of Longing. Miller’s presence, a rousing trailer, and impressive visuals mean we are in for an exciting adventure. Right?
What’s it about?
Alithea (Tilda Swinton) is a narratologist, which is a scholar who studies stories and storytelling. She researches, analyzes, and compares tales from around the world, searching for a common purpose within humanity’s stories. Alithea’s work leads her to Istanbul as a guest lecturer. While there, she stumbles into a small boutique and decides to buy a small porcelain bottle as a keepsake.
Alithea returns to her hotel and accidentally opens the bottle while cleaning it. To her surprise, a Djinn (Idris Elba) appears. After taking some time to understand the English language, The Djinn explains to Alithea his existence and promises to grant her three wishes that her heart desires.
But Alithea studies stories and has read enough to know that Djinn are tricksters, and the wishes requested by the owner of the bottle tend to lead to their calamity. She challenges the Djinn about his true intentions and refuses to make a wish without assurance that the Djinn is not trying to enact evil upon her.
The Djinn then tells his story of how he ended up in bottles, time and time again. We then follow the Djinn’s three-thousand-year misfortune of being trapped inside the bottle. The Djinn hopes that his story, and persuasiveness, will be enough to have Alithea use her wishes.
My Reaction
Based on the trailer and George Miller’s previous work, I expected Three Thousand Years of Longing to be more of an action adventure than a narrative fantasy. Most of the movie is Elba narrating an autobiographical view of the Djinn’s journey. We get to see the Djinn interact with the mystical and the human alike, with a quest for love and freedom at the center of his stories.
Because three-fourths of the movie is the Djinn’s narration, Elba must captivate with his storytelling, or else the viewer will become bored with the film. For the most part, Elba succeeds. Elba does great voiceover work, and Swinton’s character interrupts with questions to provide balance to the long narrations. Still, the actors in Elba’s flashbacks rarely speak, so you must rely on their nonverbal cues aligning with Elba’s voiceovers. Though these puppets of Elba can be engaging, it becomes easy to tune them out as the story progresses. There is supposed to be a crescendo in the Djinn’s account, with you caring for each new character more than you had for the previous one. Unfortunately, the opposite takes place.
Three Thousand Years of Longing is aided by its amazing visuals throughout the film. Elba’s Djinn looks excellent from the moment his cloudy visage crept out of the blue porcelain bottle. However, the special effects are not what makes this film great. The film employs impressive practical effects, amazing costume and set design, and a mastery of color and light. In other words, Three Thousand Years of Longing is beautiful to behold. The movie’s slow pace can be forgiven somewhat, as it gives you more time to digest the mesmerizing cinematography and design on screen.
The last third of Three Thousand Years of Longing feels surprisingly abrupt. With a runtime under two hours, I’m not sure why an extra ten minutes couldn’t have been added to tighten up the film’s ending
The last third of Three Thousand Years of Longing feels surprisingly abrupt. With a runtime under two hours, I’m not sure why an extra ten minutes couldn’t have been added to tighten up the film’s ending. Also, the characters’ actions undermine the story developed for Alithea and the Djinn. The rushed final act and the leaps in logic needed for the climax make the film’s conclusion feel unearned.
Overall Rating
Unfortunately, Three Thousand Years of Longing doesn’t live up to expectations, and it is hard to describe why. The movie is gorgeous, and our two leads deserve praise for their work. Yet, the decision to have much of the film told through narration, no matter how well that narration is done, makes it a tough watch. The ending, which almost feels like a different film, really hampers the movie’s success. There is plenty to like about Three Thousand Years of Longing, but the sum of its parts leaves you wanting.
