Idris Elba’s incredible fantasy epic is one of the movies on TV tonight

From the director of Mad Max: Fury Road, we think the film is one of this decade's most underrated.

The story revolves around Alithea (Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer), a British narratologist, someone who studies stories. In Istanbul for a work conference, she purchases an antique bottle at a market.

Taking it back to her hotel room, Alithea discovers it contains a genie (Idris Elba, Masters of the Universe). Delighted to be freed from the bottle, the genie offers the narratologist three wishes.

In response, though, Alithea says she is content with her life and does not need three wishes. She is also wary of the genie, as most stories about them are cautionary tales.

To help put her mind at ease, the genie begins recounting his life story to Alithea. The story jumps between the narratologist and the genie's conversations in the hotel room to flashbacks throughout the latter's 3,000 years on Earth, leading to how he became trapped in the bottle.

Watch the trailer for Three Thousand Years of Longing right here:

Essentially Miller's blank cheque movie after the runaway success of Mad Max: Fury Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing was made with a $60 million budget, and it's all up there on the screen.

The film looks incredible, particularly the colourful, vibrant flashback sequences which inventively breeze through the genie's experiences across thousands of years of history.

Elba and Swinton have great chemistry, making for incredibly likeable protagonists, with the movie also exploring the nature of storytelling, romance, as well as how life has changed throughout the ages.

Despite these praiseworthy elements, Three Thousand Years of Longing was a box office flop, only grossing $20 million. Perhaps its ambitious, genre-bending, and emotional story was difficult to sum up in its marketing. That said, it did receive generally positive reviews from critics.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is airing on TV tonight/tomorrow morning on Channel 4 at 12.15am. It's also available to rent on Apple TV and Rakuten TV.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight: