We spend a large chunk of our youth wishing for time to speed up so we can obtain the freedom that comes with adulthood. Then, once we reach adulthood, we wish for the ever-rapid passing of time to slow down to appreciate the freedom that came with youth. M. Night Shyamalan captures both sentiments and bottles them together in Old. Its characters get plummeted into a heightened reality where time moves at warped speed, creating an experience that toggles between unsettling, poignant, and, more often, awkwardly humorous.
Spouses Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) treat their children, eleven-year-old Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and six-year-old Trent (Nolan River), to a beachside resort holiday as a final hoorah. At the end of the trip, the parents will break the news that they’re divorcing. The resort manager recommends an excursion on a remote, hidden beach and sends the family off with an insane amount of food for a picnic. The foursome, along with another family in tow, first realizes something is amiss when a body washes ashore. Then, the children start noticeably growing and maturing at a rapid clip. It turns out, of course, that this weird beach passes the time at warped speed, and they can’t leave.
(from left) Chrystal (Abbey Lee), Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Jarin (Ken Leung), Maddox (Thomasin McKenzie), Charles (Rufus Sewell), Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), Prisca (Vicky Krieps) and Guy (Gael García Bernal) in Old, written for the screen and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
Writer/Director Shyamalan adapts Old from Sandcastles, a graphic novel Pierre-Oscar Lévy and Frederick Peeters. After a clunky exposition-heavy opening sequence that establishes the key players, the filmmaker wastes no time escorting the characters to their doomed trip. Literally, in this case, Shyamalan cameos as the resort driver whisking the two families to the mysterious destination. Once there, Old becomes a strange journey of warring tones.
The cast portrays their characters with committed earnestness, making it all the more jarring when they’re thrust into silly situations or delivering rough dialogue. Shyamalan opts for simple means of transitioning the children into their adolescent selves. It elicits a chuckle as their voices crack while we look past the back of their heads to the confused and horrified expressions of the adults. It’s only the tip of the iceberg of absurdity. Watching teen Trent, now played by Alex Wolff, behave with a child’s mentality while embarking on a very adult relationship with fellow child-turned-teen Kara (Eliza Scanlen) elicits uncomfortable fits of laughter. Especially when yelling at dad that he’d make a better husband.
(from left) Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Trent (Alex Wolff) in Old, written for the screen and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
It’s as if, through this sped-up process of aging, Shyamalan wants to comment on how trivial it all amounts to in the end. The fighting, the vanity, the heartbreak, and the mistakes made along the way ultimately don’t matter much by the time life winds down; it’s the moments that connect and ground us that truly matter in the end. That existential poignancy helps cut through the bizarre and occasionally unsettling moments. When you think that’s the point, though, Old pulls the curtain back a bit to deliver a far less satisfying conclusion.
Shyamalan takes a barebones story and gives it an almost epic feel with his stylistic flourishes and cinematic flair. It’s well directed with innovative camera work and clever techniques to work around the PG-13 rating, infusing a bit more tension in the process. But even the impressive direction can’t distract from the silly story and offbeat tone. Old lacks subtlety and needs you to be on its peculiar wavelength to resonate.
Old presents an absurd time-lapse scenario. No twists or surprises punctuate this bizarre trip, just a few moments of horror and a whole lot of cringe humor. The talented cast plays their roles so straight and genuine that it only highlights the jarring nature of this heightened reality. Old does win points for being unique. It also keeps you engaged throughout, thanks to its disjointed and warring tones. Its themes are more intriguing than its narrative or its blandly written characters, however, despite a cast giving it their all. Horror is a small fish in a sea of quirky eccentricities. But if Shyamalan was aiming to capture how strange, erratic, and absurd the passage of time really is, well, he succeeds here.
Old releases in theaters on July 23, 2021.
