Three Thousand Years of Longing

What would you do, if a Djinn appeared to you, gave three wishes at your leisure, would you use them for your pleasure, a lad in veritable full throttle, a genie conjured from a bottle, just be clear what you require, to satisfy, your heart's desires (and quench any sweltering fires that may also need dousing).

A tale of loneliness and solitude, of growing old and achievements, of what could have been and what might yet be, told through the furtive imagination of Alithea, with help from a mysterious spirit who she frees from a bottle during a stay in Istanbul.

Imagination doesn't disappear with age, and while this is not the greatest or the deepest film you'll see this year, it may still leave you juggling what three wishes you might make, and especially how to phrase them so they don't backfire.

"Three Thousand Years of Longing" is a culmination of stories leading up to the encounter between Idris Elba's "Djinn" and Tilda Swinton's "Alithea" that will enchant and enthrall those that wish to be enchanted and enthralled. It is certainly not a movie that I would just recommend to anyone. Rather, this film is one for an audience looking to pick out patterns and motifs that make up a three-thousand-year long story.

These musical motifs, visual patterns, color schemes, and recurring events are placed all throughout the film. Many are easy to pick out, many less so. In essence, this film is not unlike Wes Andersen's "The French Dispatch", in which many smaller stories constitute a whole. While there is certainly room to expand, this is an intriguingly crafted film (with an even more intriguing sound mix), that stayed with me long after I left the theater. If you wish to enter a world where history and legend collide, I would highly recommend this film.

This truly is one of the best films I've ever seen! I went into the cinema thinking, based on the trailers, that it would be more like a comedy, ridiculous, farcical and just not a very good film, but it truly is one of the best films I've ever seen. The visual effects are great and bring an interesting change of pace to the film, but the performances by Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton are incredible, and the film is like a fairytale; it takes you on an amazing journey through time and history and characters but at the root of it is love, a true love story! I left the cinema feeling motivated, encouraged and feeling optimism again about modern cinema and the ability to tell interesting stories that really engage.

What a grandeur ensemble between Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

A cautionary tale about human desire and what it means to love. The pacing was completely on point; I was engrossed right from the first few moments. The cinematography is beautiful. Miller who shows his versatility in a break from his typical movies. That being said it is noticeably a George Miller movie in style. Recommend this one very much, it does not feel too artsy but at the same time is not your "typical" fantasy movie. This movie is a marvelous artistic depiction of fundamental spiritual concepts that will leave some cold and indifferent while enchanting the initiated in the spiritual paths of the primordial tradition.

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.