September 2022: What I'm Watching
Recently watched, links, and more
Another month and I have some recommendations for the movies, TV, and music I’ve enjoyed.
Three Thousand Years of Longing (Mini-Review)
The long-awaited new film from director George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) arrived in theaters and barely conjured up interest from moviegoers. It’s a little surprising that the first movie post-Fury Road couldn’t do well even if Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba usually aren’t big names that attract audiences. Perhaps with Three Thousand Years of Longing is there isn’t an easy way to sell this story of stories.
Alithea Binnie (Swinton) is a well-off British scholar who lectures about otherworldly beings. Sometimes during these speeches, she has hallucinations of ancient beings in the audience, telling her not to divulge their secrets. So when she happens upon a magic lamp and the Djinn inside (Elba), Alithea initially believes her eyes are playing tricks on her. It’s only through Djinn’s stories does she begin to believe she’s actually in the presence of a great and powerful Djinn; she becomes entranced by his history.
The stories are undoubtedly the highlight of Three Thousand Years of Longing. The movie takes on an anthology format describing the people that Djinn has encountered over his many years. It reminded me of Tarsem Singh’s The Fall and features beautiful cinematography from John Seale (who was also the cinematographer for Fury Road). If the framing device of Swinton and Elba having conversations in a hotel room was solely used to tell these other stories, I think I would’ve enjoyed the movie more. But, Three Thousand Years of Longing does circle back to the main pair and completes their story. Not only does it feel like it’s missing a good fifteen minutes, but I wasn’t satisfied with how it ended.
Yes, I was disappointed with Three Thousand Years of Longing. Those expecting another movie in the same vein as Mad Max: Fury Road will undoubtedly be unsatisfied. Thankfully, Miller is in production on his Fury Road prequel, Furiosa. [C-]
What I’ve Been Writing/Reading:
If you missed it, I reviewed the new series Welcome to Wrexham for RogerEbert.com. Click here if you’d like to read my review of the new FX series.
My interest in Welcome to Wrexham continues and a new conversation between Vulture critics Nicholas Quah and Kathryn VanArendonk about the ethics of the series really has me interested. It was something that I brought into my review of the show as well.
Fall movie season is in full swing and the first of two articles about upcoming movies is an interview with Brendan Fraser. Ahead of his new movie, Fraser, and director Darren Aronofsky talked to David Canfield of Vanity Fair about the transformation Fraser had to undergo for the lead role in The Whale. The Whale will be released in theaters on December 9th.
Director Todd Field has only made two feature films and it has been a long while since he’s made one. In fact, Tár, is his first film in 16 years. Kyle Buchanan of The New York Times sat down with the director ahead of the movie's premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Tár opens in theaters on October 7th. I’ve included the trailer below:
The most expensive TV series ever, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, premiered on Amazon Video. I wrote about it here:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to It's the Pictures to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.