A Reel Review: THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING

Director George Miller has had one of the most diverse film careers of all time. He brought the apocalypse to the big screen in the MAD MAX franchise in 1979, won Oscars with his animated film HAPPY FEET in 2006, and then took the world by storm with the thunder of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD in 2015. Here in 2022, Miller ventures into the realm of fantasy with THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING. 

 

Alithea (Tilda Swinton), a lonely British scholar specializing in the art and history of storytelling, encounters a Djinn (Idris Elba), who will grant her three wishes…

 

Directed by Miller and based on the 1994 short story The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt, LONGING is a film that serves many purposes. The majority of the film unfolds like a single-location stage play, with Alithea and Djinn in her hotel room. Alithea has no great desires in her heart and wants no wishes, but Djinn must grant them or else perish. What follows is Djinn telling his story throughout history, as he meets and influences historical figures through thousands of years. Through this, Djinn and Alithea examine and explore the nature of storytelling and the dangers of wishes. 

 

The subject matter is fascinating, and as Djinn tells his story, breadcrumbs are sprinkled here and there. Alithea has hallucinations before she even meets Djinn; characters and objects that eventually appear throughout Djinn’s extended flashbacks. There seems to be a great promise to reveal the deeper meaning of it…which never comes and leaves a lot up to the viewer to figure out. It’s not quite an attempt at an ambiguous movie where everyone can take away their own meaning, but instead mystery just for the sake of mystery. 

 

Miller films a gorgeous looking movie, and the visuals are stunning. Djinn’s tale through time is brought to life in amazing ways. Miller also gets outstanding performances from Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba…who have great chemistry and truly make the screen crackle. 

 

THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING is one of those movies that every director and screenwriter wants to make eventually; a story about storytelling that examines why we spin yarns and what they mean to us in our lives. Miller asks many questions but provides no answers, which is the right thing to do. LONGING mostly works, but there are just one too many unanswered questions that leaves us longing for more. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it