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Three Thousand Years of Longing

The 100 Most Anticipated Movies of 2022

2022

George Miller

Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, David Collins, Alyla Browne ...

6.1

4,225

Fantasy. Romance A scholar, content with life, encounters a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Their conversation, in a hotel room in Istanbul, leads to consequences neither would have expected.

	Author	Review
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"Audiences eager to be enchanted by adult fairy tales might find something in the talky reflections on love and desire, on isolation and connection (...) I struggled to find much depth of feeling in it"	NEU
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"George Miller’s first movie since 'Fury Road' Is a wish come true (...)Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba conjure all sorts of magical chemistry in George Miller's bombastic modern fairy tale."	POS
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Originality is overrated when it comes to story. The gonzo 'Mad Max' director would've done well to stick to what works"	NEU
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Hardly lacking ambition or verve, this amped-up fairy tale comes complete with social commentary (...) but the episodic, intermittently engaging saga frustrates more than it enchants."	NEU
United States	Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"The director of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' spins a heartfelt metaphor for our digital age (...) It’s a curious film, messy in all its ambition but consistently transfixing, an earnest labor of love—and one about love."	POS
United Kingdom	Xan Brooks The Guardian	"Stories about stories can be lightbulbs, starbursts. But they require more mischief and abandon than this one can muster; possibly more obvious chemistry between its stately protagonists, too (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"George Miller's romantic fairy tale fails to spark (...) It's full of visual sleight-of-hand, but it immediately disappears from your mind in a puff of smoke (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Ben Croll The Wrap	"Miller has a delicious sense of visual invention and a burlesque sense of humor, both of which he trots out to good effect here."	POS
United Kingdom	Jordan Farley Total Film	"Incessantly talky and almost completely devoid of action (...) 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing' is the kind of playful adult fairytale that’s all but extinct in the era of franchise filmmaking (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	M.N. Miller Ready Steady Cut	"[It] is not as nearly ambitious as it wants to be and, as a result, never reaches the film’s goals (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Todd McCarthy Deadline	"Narrative issues notwithstanding, great pleasure ensues from the constant presence of both Elba and Swinton (...) The work of longtime Miller cinematographer John Seale represents yet another reason to see this on the big screen."	POS
United States	Ben Kenigsberg rogerebert.com	"I can see how, were I on its wavelength, I might have found 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' unusual and moving rather than overblown and trite"	NEU
United States	Rafael Motamayor SlashFilm	"'Three Thousand Years of Longing' tells a fantastic and poignant story about storytelling, longing, and love. It's about the art of telling smaller, intimate stories at a time when big stories seem to only be valid"	POS
United Kingdom	Nicholas Barber BBC	"The fundamental problem is that the djinn's anecdotes just aren't enchanting enough (...) It's a strange flaw for a film which is so marvellously imaginative in so many ways (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Charles Bramesco The Playlist	"The cumulative merits on display in Miller's museum of amazement, we hang on every word of the narration —as sure a sign of a well-spun yarn as any"	POS
United States	Katie Walsh Los Angeles Times	"Miller’s vision is an earnest and high-minded one, with more insights about humanity and storytelling (...) But it’s also a deeply odd film, spanning centuries but contained to the interaction between Alithea and the Djinn"	NEU
United States	Ryan Leston IGN	"'Three Thousand Years of Longing' is a meandering fairy-tale spanning thousands of years that's full of modern-day whimsy –it's just too bad it all falls apart in the third act"	NEU
United States	Derek Smith Slant	"Both the film and the djinn embrace the sense of wonder and amazement that such elaborate tales can awaken in us (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"A glossy cinematic knickknack steeped in the heady unreality of a fable, or a dream (...) The film's tone and intended audience never quite come into focus"	NEU
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide The Guardian	"There’s the palpable lack of chemistry between the leads: a kind of brisk civility rather than the ache of eternal longing the title promises (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Erin Brady SlashFilm	"Quieter and contemplative, opting to use its sprawling visuals sparingly to convey its grand ideas. A beautiful (...) ode to storytelling, Miller champions the resilience of humanity that can be traced back to these stories"	POS
United States	Rory O'Connor The Film Stage	"Miller adapts Byatt's text with a kind of hyper creativity that becomes a bit much after a while (...) There are some moments of beauty. It's far from perfect, but it does try new things. There is much to be said for that"	NEU
Ireland	Donald Clarke Irish Times	"An expansive, time-travelling adventure that –in its epic way –nods to the shut-in life many of us have been living since 2020 (...) Feels like a folly at times, but always a worthwhile folly (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU

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