Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic - content with life and a creature of reason, she loves to study stories about stories. When she travels to Istanbul on business she mixes in some shopping and while in a local establishment she purchases an oddly burned glass bottle. When back at her hotel room she tries to clean the bottle and before you know it out comes a Djinn (Idris Elba) who at first fills the entire room.

Of course, Alithea is granted three wishes and by doing so it will grant the Djinn his freedom after thousands of years. The sceptic that Alithea is she had doubts that this was real and because of her studies and background she knows that making wishes can cause dramatic differences in one’s life. Yet after spending time with the Djinn and hearing stories of his past she decides to make a wish that changes her life and his forever.

I have a bit of a hard time explaining this film since the stories are long and somewhat odd but interesting. When the film started, I was not impressed even when Elba entered into the story but when they started to chat and the Djinn started to tell and the director showed his life’s stories the film became more interesting for me. It does not have many peaks and valleys but tends to just stay on a steady plain. Yet, I must say I enjoyed some of the cinematography and especially the score. I’m not sure that even though Swinton and Elba are excellent in their performances as are may of the supporting actors, this story may be a bit deep for the average movie goer. There are a number of animals in the film but none except for the horses in war that were projected as harmed from explosions and firearms during their on screen use.