Film review: ‘3,000 YEARS OF LONGING’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Despite being directed by the revered George Miller, containing some inspired and quite startling moments and starring two of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, the oddball romantic fantasy and storytelling tribute, 3,000 Years Of Longing doesn’t entirely work.  The title sounds like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel but George Miller and Augusta Gore wrote the film’s script having adapted it from an A. S. Byatt short story called The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.

The film sees Professor of Narratology or stories, Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) (Alithea was a Greek mythological goddess of truth) on a lecture tour in Istanbul when she has a very bizarre encounter. Purchasing a mysterious bottle from a street market, she discovers it contains none other than a genie or Djinn (a giant size Idris Elba). He offers her the traditional three wishes but her expertise in mythology tells her that making these wishes usually ends badly. To not make them will, however, consign the Djinn to oblivion. To convince her, he regales her with stories of his tragic experiences and romances with those who had found the bottle across the centuries.

This is, on one level, a homage to the delights of storytelling with long tracts of the film dedicated to both Djinn and Alithea recalling or possibly spinning elaborate personal sagas.  It’s also a cautionary tale to those who become too immersed in the fantasy world of novels and stories and about the dangers of wish fulfilment and magical thinking.

With Miller at the helm and John Seale (who has an astonishing resume that includes The Talented Mr Ripley, The English Patient and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone among many others) handling cinematography this was never going to be an ordinary looking film.  They craft some visually stunning set pieces with vividly coloured and highly inventive recreations of historical MIddle Eastern kingdoms and battles scenes. While much of the art direction is remarkable, it occasionally looks a little garish like an excessively indulgent scene from a Baz Lurhmann film or one of those more expensive-looking sequences from a Monty Python movie.  Also, some of the CGI used to depict Djinn’s magical powers, is a little dodgy.  For a film that’s meant to be a visual feast it’s also very talky and some of Djinn’s stories become a little ponderous.

The film’s biggest flaw, however, is that, despite attempting to be a psychological drama and epic romance, it just doesn’t connect emotionally.  This is in part because the sheer oddness of the story and the ornate way it’s presented get in the way of raw human feeling but also because the script never allows us to thoroughly engage and empathise with either Alithea or Djinn.

Given the striking and unusual nature of this film, it will more than likely divide most audiences into ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ categories, a little like this year’s other mind-boggling fantasy Everything Everywhere All at Once.  For this reviewer, though, this fantasy, comedy, drama, adventure, romance was an admirably ambitious and occasionally fascinating mess.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy/ Romance.

Classification: M

Director(s): George Miller.

Release date: 1st Sep 2022.

Running time: 108 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

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