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.
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