Three Thousand Years of Longing
[Blu-ray]
What an odd movie for George Miller to follow up Mad Max Fury Road with. And what an odd thing to start a movie review with a sentence that ends in a preposition. But, there you have it. Let’s accept that. I went into this movie knowing nothing about it, but certain that I love Tilda Swinton and was indifferent to Idris Elba. Let’s be honest, he’s an OK actor at best and skates by on the fact that he’s handsome and has a cockney accent. However, one of my takeaways of Three Thousand Years of Longing is that he’s quite good! But no, I knew nothing about this movie, and I’m glad I didn’t because I was truly surprised both by the story and the visuals.
Three Thousand Years of Longing is a movie about love and a genie. I love that. It also takes place in the backdrop of Turkey: one of the most visually stunning cultures. And this movie goes all in. The first three quarters are basically flashbacks of three separate stories told in the backdrop of the Ottoman empire, and I cannot tell you how much that is my jam. Through it all, we are bombarded with colorful characters and designs and truly get immersed in this world. We get to know our protagonists and what makes them tick. Unfortunately, all of that is undone in the last quarter of the movie, when the story switches to modern times and our protagonists start acting like complete strangers to us. Their actions, their drives, their motives, even the rules the first hour and half spends establishing, become confusing and very fuzzy. At the end, we’re left wondering what it was all about. Oh, I know what it’s TRYING to say (love conquers all), but I don’t know if the movie knows it did a bad job doing it. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that for such a grandiose epic presentation, it all kind of wraps up with a disappointing whimper.
Some people don’t care about plot, and just want eye candy on the big screen (like, ALL Marvel fans), and they will be very happy with this movie. There’s a lot to love here, but for those of us who want a story too, it all gets kind of mangled at the end. It’s a head scratcher, and not in a good way. Pretty, though…
