Three Thousand Years of Longing

 While the world wishes for George Miller to continue the Mad Max series, it gets to see his newest film, Three Thousand Years of Longing. He and his daughter Augusta Gore adapted the titular short story from AS Bryant's book The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. Let's see how it is.

Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a scholar on business in Istanbul. She buys an antique bottle and accidentally releases the Djinn (Idris Elba) within. The Djinn offers her the standard three wishes, but Alithea knows her Djinn stories and how the wishers rarely live happily. The Djinn decides to tell her his life story. A story of how he went from the court of the Queen of Sheba to the court of Murad IV and ultimately, the home of Zefir, a merchant's wife. Each destination led him confined to a bottle. This tale leads the seemingly-content Alithea to fall for the Djinn.

It's all spread out over 108 minutes. The Djinn's history is intriguing enough to make one want to read more on the historical figures mentioned. But the presentation feels more like a stuffy college lecture than an engaging tale. Alithea falling for the Djinn, a good concept for a whole movie, is the last half-hour. The last half-hour even has multiple fake out endings. The tales are jolted by some audacious humor and feature some creepy moments that'll leave you perplexed. That's mainly because they're never elaborated on. The bulk of the movie might make an engaging stage play but it's unusually long on film.

The technical genies conjure up some splendorous results. The sets and costumes are visually appealing and cinematographer John Seale's work is as grand here as it was in Fury Road. The CGI is mostly good, with the exception of a poor composite shot near the start. Tom Holkenborg's score is suitably romantic, and the sound work is perfectly otherworldly. There's not much else I could wish from them.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a decent fantasy film. Elba and Swinton are fine together, but its story will make you wish for a strong narrative jolt. There are some great concepts that needed stronger elaboration. There's much to marvel at on the technical side, though. It's a mixed bag, but it's a decent option in this slow movie month. You can also wish to wait for something else. There's no harm in that.