George Miller has electrified the Cannes Film Festival this year with Three Thousand Years of Longing – his first directorial effort since Mad Max: Fury Road.
Miller earned a six-minute standing ovation at the festival after the film, which stars Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, premiered at Cannes’ Palais theatre.
“This is the first time I’ve seen the film with an audience, and it’s very moving,” Miller, who has Kytherian heritage, told the crowd after the premiere. “I’m very, very grateful.”
The film, which MGM will release on August 31, was scripted by Miller and his daughter, first-time screenwriter Augusta Gore.
In it, Swinton plays a narratologist named Alithea Binnie who is visiting Turkey for a conference on how science has replaced mythology. There, she meets a wish-granting djinn (Elba) and a lengthy, intimate conversation ensues in which he tells her about his previous masters throughout the last 3,000 years.
Reactions have been mixed to the film, but few have questioned its ambition or its uniqueness. Miller himself said “it’s a very pertinent story” that goes beyond every day themes.
“Time will tell if it has enough stuff going in it that other people respond to it. You hope that the story becomes someone else’s and belongs to everyone,” Miller concluded.
Source: shootonline.com.
