It is very rare that I go to the cinema and come out wondering why a film was made; Three Thousand Years of Longing did just that.
It has taken me while to work out what the film was trying to achieve, is it an attempt at an adult fairy-tale, a mysterious romance, or even a strange comedy? Of course, not all films will fit neatly into a narrative genre, but considering one of the key concepts of the film was narrative, history, myths and legends, I expected the plotline to have a more profound story. Furthermore the narrative was not improved by creative script writing; the script was lacking and uninteresting, with clunky interactions and very generic and cringe-worthy dialogue.
The film starts following the life of an academic, lecturing students and the public on narrative. Relatively quickly it is revealed that the mythical characters of Dr Alithea Binnie’s (Tilda Swinton) passion, appear as apparitions within her waking life. The CGI of these characters is uninspiring; perhaps they were created this way in order to feel unrealistic and to ensure the distinction between imagination and reality, ensuring the audience do not question where the divide between reality and fantasy is. There are a lot of films where this works (Big Fish as an example) and it constructs a charming and powerful story, but for me, Three Thousand years of longing did not succeed in creating such a story.
Considering the star studded crew, I was expecting to at least feel partially immersed in the fantasy and characters, however even the acting felt forced and there was barely a moment I wasn’t aware I was in a cinema screen, watching a film. I expected more from actors such as Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, but the characters lacked depth and likability (or even detestability). The love between the characters, which becomes apparent towards the end of the film felt even more unbelievable and awkward. The love story felt like an extension to the film, a second thought; constructing a cliché and boring conclusion. I had hope at the beginning that there would be something clever or mysterious that would excite me, but as each story of the Djinn’s past ensued I felt embarrassed, especially in the scenes that seemed to ridicule those who are different or outcast in modern society based on physical traits. Not a fairy-tale moral, I believe should be portrayed.
I would love to say that there was many visually appealing elements or creative filmmaking that gave the film some personality or charm, however this was not the case. The only element I enjoyed was the sound, which was used to link shots and scenes, interweaving the realism and fantasy through consistent sounds as each shot cut from one to another. This was also occasionally linked to visual jump cuts, which helped the flow and transitioning of the film.
Many critics seem to have been divided by this film, some enjoying the variability and differentiation to many other films. However I am on the side of the other critics, finding the film dull, cringe-worthy and thoroughly lacking in artistry and narrative. I kept longing for something clever to happen that would change the narrative, create some kind of morality to the film and tie up the loose ends. This never came, and I left feeling perplexed, bored and wondering why someone would desire to watch this film.
Film rating: 2.5/10
image: https://bollyy.com/pvr-pictures-to-release-george-millers-three-thousand-years-of-longing-in-india-on-26th-august-2022/
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