This week, Anthony and Helen cover the fantastical but flawed Three Thousand Years of Longing directed by George Miller!
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Synopsis for Three Thousand Years of Longing
Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic — content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.
Podcast Transcript
Anthony: So, Helen, what were your initial impressions of Three Thousand Years of Longing?
Helen: First off, I was startled, surprised, and excited that it’s a George Miller joint. I didn’t know that until I literally sat down in the theater. And I don’t know if your screen had this, but he came up and was like, “Thank you for watching this movie” in his Australian accent, and I was like “What?! That’s why Anthony wanted to see this. Oh, okay! Mad Max man! This is going to be completely different. I was like, “Is this about to be an action movie? Should I be bracing for some wild violence and flamethrowers and men painted silver with guitars, like what am I about to watch? Then I was extremely charmed initially just because of the subversion of what I expect from George Miller. But then I got too deep into the movie and my final initial impression was that I didn’t like it very much.
Anthony: Oh, yeah. I was around the same field…