LCF and I paid a bit to see this.
LCF thought it was okay, but was a bit disappointed. She expected it to go in a direction it didn't. I tend to agree. But it's one of the more intelligent genie tales. For instance, the genie lays some ground rules for the wishes. You can't wish for infinite wishes, or for eternal life, things like that. And Tilda, when prompted, says, Don't rush me; this requires considerable thought. Those points alone put it way above most genie fare.
I think it's good, but not great. It's a lot better than most of the crap I watch, but that's not telling you much.
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Still had to pay for it on Amazon Prime? Darn. I still want to see this, but not enough to pay for it.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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It's apparently based on the short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" by A.S. Byatt, which is quite good, although one might say it doesn't really go anywhere. In fact that whole book (of the same name) is good.
When I can watch this for free I probably will.
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03-18-2023, 11:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-18-2023, 11:33 PM by Drunk Monk.)
Seen. On Amazon Prime but with the MGM subscription.
I rather enjoyed it. Tilda and Idris are two of my fav actors and to watch them play out such an odd tale was delightful.
Sure, it’s a smart Djinn story, a thoughtful interpretation of old 3 wish tropes, but what it’s really about is storytelling. Tilda is a narratologist which is a new word in my vocabulary and had I known such a thing existed, my academic path would’ve been different. She’s cautious of making the wishes because she knows how those stories go. And Idris’ Djinn has 3000 years of stories. There are lots of subplots and peripheral story arcs, but it’s not distracting - quite the opposite. It’s beautiful in how it navigates the Arabian roots of djinn, and it has some fun surreal moments, which are mostly understated and that adds to its impact.
The ending was a bit clunky but it was somewhat happily ever after which was curiously refreshing. I can’t tell if it reached for a lofty parable about stories with parables and just missed by a little or if it wasn’t reaching for that at all and should have. So yeah, not great but good - a story well told. I found a lot of the writing to be sharp and crisp, which is only fitting for a story about stories - there’s an underlying theme of books and their importance.
D00M recommended.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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MGM+ was having a free weekend preview and this was on.
I thought the first two acts were really good. The third act missed the landing enormously. But the way the film was put together was really well done. It was beautiful to look act. I think the scenes in Istanbul were very reminiscent of Baron Munchausen but better.
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I enjoyed this but I think it did think it started to drag about 2/3 of the way in. Had it been a bit shorter I think it would have been better. The look was fantastic. Followed the story mostly, but if I remember corrrectly, they added one story. Tilda and Idris sold it; I don't think it would have worked without them.
If you liked it, I recommend the book, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. This is the longest story, but the others also play with the fairy tale genre.
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