Three Thousand Years of Longing

Yesterday was National Cinema Day, which meant that every movie in every format was only $3.00, so I decided to finally cross Three Thousand Years of Longing off my list.  I loved this visually stunning ode to storytelling!  Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a solitary literary scholar who sometimes experiences hallucinations because of an overactive imagination.  On a trip to Istanbul she purchases an antique bottle and inadvertently releases the djinn (Idris Elba) trapped inside. He offers to grant three wishes, which will earn him his freedom, but she is wary because most stories involving wishes are cautionary tales.  He decides to tell her three stories detailing each time he came to be trapped in the bottle, including his interactions with the Queen of Sheba (Aamito Lagum), a concubine (Ece Yuksel) in the palace of Suleiman the Magnificent, and the wife (Burcu Golgedar) of a Turkish merchant.  She is enchanted by his stories and decides to use a wish to have him fall in love with her so that he will always be with her.  Back in London, however, she realizes that the only way for him to truly love her is to set him free.  I can certainly understand why Alithea falls in love with the djinn because Elba gives an incredibly appealing performance (he has such a great voice) and the stories he tells are compelling.  Just like Alithea, I was completely under his spell and my attention never wavered because of all of the beautiful images on the screen.  I feel like this movie could have gone on for at least another hour because I wanted to stay in this world a little bit longer.  I think that it loses a bit of steam when the action moves to London but I almost think this is intentional because Miller seems to be making a point that science and technology have taken away the wonder and magic of storytelling.  This won't be for everyone but I loved it and, if it sounds like something you would enjoy, definitely see it on the big screen!