Three Thousand Years of Longing: Neon NZ Movie Review

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba
Director: George Miller

George Miller's story about stories settles for somewhat of a more philosophical and talkative approach to its subject, illustrated solely with flashbacks.

Swinton is narratologist Alithea Binnie, a lonely divorcee who discovers a bottle on a trip to Istanbul, which houses a Djinn (played with sonorous delight by Idris Elba). Loosening off the top of the bottle, the Djinn is obliged to give Binnie three wishes, and gain his own freedom. 

However, she's aware of the trickster nature of Djinn and so a discourse begins with the Djinn illustrating his past masters and their wishes...

3000 Years of Longing has moments of wonder, whimsy and whizzbang to boot as Miller adapts A S Byatt's novella, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye.

From some impressive FX once the genie's literally out of the bottle, Miller's got some visual tricks up his sleeve to conjure an audience into a stupor. But unfortunately, that's about it because most of what occurs is Westernised views of ancient Babylonian life and views of the far east.

Elba's mellifluousness is enough to soothe any aural worries, but the stories which are told are just that - stories. They lack an emotional heft, despite their central themes being about longing, love, and people's place in their worlds and others - there's plenty to weave a rich tapestry here, but not all of it comes to enough fruition, and in parts borders on obsession.

The hotelroom-set discourse of the Djinn and his would-be master is rich, with Swinton and Elba relishing scenes together, and delivering where the flawed film fails.

But despite the lavish touches of colour, the fantastical edges of the Arabian Nights style stories and the occasional flashes of visual flourish, Miller doesn't have enough on hand to deliver a conclusion that's strong enough to linger in the mind's eye.