Three Thousand Years of Longing and Breaking

The very nature of narrative is at the heart of "Three Thousand Years of Longing," in which Tilda Swinton plays an academic who buys a bottle that turns out to contain Idris Elba as a genie. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano share why they are mildly disappointed about the storytelling in this film. Although they agree that the two actors work extremely well together and also agree that there are nifty special effects, the stories told by the genie have a wandering quality that takes up screen time that would be better spent exploring the relationship between the academic and the genie. Marie and Mike also discuss "Breaking," in which John Boyega plays a disgruntled veteran who tries to call attention to his case by taking hostages inside a bank. Although the film gets bogged down in police procedural matters and does not go into much detail about the troubled protagonist, there are serious issues to consider here. The film also marks the final screen appearance by the late Michael K. Williams