BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST MOVIE REVIEWER
3000 Years of Longing (Now playing in theatres)
This film is rated R – for language, adult themes, and sexual situations
If you had three wishes, what would they be?
That is the fundamental question posed by 3000 Years of Longing, the newest film by director George Miller of the Mad Max film franchise. Based on the novel, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.
3000 Years of Longing tells the story of Alithea, a literary scholar and solitary woman who, upon her travels in the Grand Bizarre of Istanbul (not Constantinople), happens upon a shop where she purchases a small jar of no consequence, or so she believes.
Trapped within that jar is a djinn who, upon his release, does what djinn’s do: grants Alithea three wishes.
We have all read these stories of wishes granted but with unforetold consequences and, being a literary scholar, so has Alithea. So rather than start spouting off wishes, she coaxes the djinn to tell her his story.
And from there the story unfolds. Told as a fairytale, 3000 Years of Longing covers the djinn’s life and imprisonment over the last three millennia. It is a wonderful set of stories, as he describes his previous masters and their wishes.
3000 Years of Longing hits all the right notes. It is entertaining, interesting, colorful, fun, and the casting is perfect–from Tilda Swinton’s frumpy and odd Alithea to Idris Elba’s djinn, who is just perfect in that role.
Our modern moviegoing experiences and choices far too often are either animated films or superhero films, so it is refreshing when a smaller film like this comes along to entertain us. Watching this story unfold is not just entertaining, it’s pleasurable. So if you get the chance, seek this one out.
Now playing in theatres, 3000 Years of Longing gets 4 full stars out of five possible stars from me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.