George Miller’s first film since Fury Road, titled Three Thousand Years of Longing had it’s world premiere at Cannes a few hours ago and received a six minute standing ovation from the audience. The fantasy fairy-tale epic is lead by Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba and based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S.Byatt.
Below You can check out the trailer for Three Thousand Years of Longing, released just a few hours ago.
Plot and Release Date of Three Thousand Years of Longing
As seen from the trailer, Idris Elba plays a Djinn who’s locked in a magical artifact, while Dr. Alithea Binnie(Tilda Swinton), is a lonely woman who travels to Istanbul, Turkey and purchases the artifact. She accidentally unlocks the Djinn, who grants her three wishes for his own freedom. Their conversations in a hotel room and Alithea’s initial reluctance over the Djinn’s offer of wishes leads to unexpected consequences.
MGM purchased the distribution rights for United States and is scheduled to release on August 31, 2022.
What are the Reviews Saying?
The film currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 75% based on 8 reviews and average rating of 6.70/10. Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.
Below we rounded up some of the reviews available online written by critics who watched the film at Cannes.
“Like Mad Max: Fury Road before it, Three Thousand Years of Longing is another kind of blockbuster that tries to lead by example, a big-budget fantasia that argues there are more imaginative and original ways for Hollywood to employ its tools.”
– Ben Croll, The Wrap – 3/5
“Great pleasure ensues from the constant presence of both Elba and Swinton, who are alert to every possibility presented by the script and then add so much more to it in the bargain; both performances are nothing short of marvelous.”
– Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily
“George Miller could find more cinema in a single hotel minibar than some contemporary directors could squeeze out of an entire galaxy far, far away, and he manages to do exactly that without unbalancing the delicate soul of [this] intimate two-hander.”
– David Ehrlich, IndieWire – B+
“Three Thousand Years Of Longing doesn’t entirely succeed on its own terms, but in its way is as formally ambitious and experimental as anything mad maestro Miller has committed to the screen across a 43-year career.”
– Jordan Farley, Total Film
“Maybe jaded audiences will appreciate how self-consciously innovative Miller’s spin on the djinn movie is trying to be. Or maybe they’ll find themselves asking why someone with Alithea’s training can’t tell a more coherent story.”
– Peter Debruge, Variety
“This cerebrally sexy shot of One Thousand and One Nights-adjacent whimsy strains so hard for beguilement and timelessness that it’s ponderous and heavy. ”
– David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
It’s a bit too early to judge the complete critical reception of this film as it hasn’t yet released in US and is not available for a majority of critics and audience to review.
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