Old
M. Night’s Newest Film Old Gets Old Real Quick But Still Worth The Watch.
What are your names and occupations? Mine is Lance, and welcome back to your friendly neighborhood film reviews. It’s the most important question in the movie, so when you watch it, pay attention. Now, for the main attraction, M. Night Shyamalan is back with another movie that was a thrill of a trailer to watch and a “what the hell happened” in the theatres. I am a fan of M. Night despite his consistent strikeouts when it comes to his films from critics because of what he is capable of. Storytelling isn’t easy, you’re either good at it or you’re not. With movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split, M. Night displayed his ability to bend our minds through the lens of everyday life, keeping things supernatural while also being in sync with being down to earth. When I heard M. Night was doing Old, several were immediately excited because of the saying “Time is against you” being brought to us as a horror-thriller concept. I don’t think anyone can watch old and say they didn’t have a slight existential crisis watching an entire lifespan fly by these characters in a span of a few days. But it’s how M. Night goes about telling these stories which bums it to a lower grade. This one was supposed to be easier for him because it was anadaptation of the graphic novel Sandcastle by Frederik Peeters& Pierre Oscar Levy (Also confirming that M. Night reads as many comics as Mr. Glass does).
Old tells the story of a family who goes on a vacation to discover they have been offered an opportunity by the manager of the hotel to extend their trip to the secluded beach of the tropical island. As time passes on this beach while they are relaxing, they begin to rapidly age. As they notice how fast time is moving, the few on the beach begin to display mental issues that begin to interfere with the safety of others. Long before we know it, this beach has become a life-or-death situation against each other while fighting against father time himself. I know you’re thinking “Just leave the beach” but every time they try, they develop a massive headache from an unknown force which causes them to black out. So, what do you do in a situation like this? Strangely enough, down the line in this film, getting pregnant was one of the options and that was unpleasant to watch.
One thing I noticed about the cinematography in Old is that in the beginning of the film, the camera was steady as if it was on a dolly rocking side to side. But as the film goes on, it begins to spiral out of control following the situations that were on a constant downward spiral on that wicked beach. Also, if you’re lucky to have surround sound, your speakers aren’t broken. Often, you’ll hear the sound fading in the movie, but this is all intentional, unlike Christopher Nolan with Tenet, we’re all pretty much convinced that he can’t hear. But the positive of this film is that again, M. Night has found his Twilight Zone-like niche showing us the real fears we all carry, getting old. It’s inevitable to avoid how the clock ticks and its pretty obvious it does, but to remind one and make them fear it, understanding their years are numbered, that’s talent. This was a refreshing concept and that is something you can always depend on M. Night to bring to the table, a new idea.
Now while he doesn’t strike gold with all his film ideas, he keeps the promised plot twist or as I would like to say the “What The F*ck” moment which I believe he borrows from Serling and Hitchcock. Knocking out a plot like this in only an hour and 58 mins may have hurt him because the plot was Swiss cheese leaving us with a lot of questions. The movie is heavily coated with highlights on mental illness and how they can create versions of people we aren’t prepared to see yet. Often, we associate one’s behavior with their mental illness and sicknesses that come with age, for example, having dementia and being old go hand in hand. But when you see certain illnesses and conditions create a hostile environment where you are the person harming someone or you can’t protect yourself… it becomes a nightmare. M. Night’s film Old is certainly a nightmare in paradise, and it scores a 6/10. I thought of just giving it a 5.5/10 but again, it’s a film that makes you think, and that’s what the point of movies are. Don’t forget your name and occupation, it’ll come in handy.
