MEDIOCREMOVIE.CLUB
  • Reviews
  • Side Pieces
  • Shane of Thrones
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Game of Thrones Fantasy

Old

3/30/2022

0 Comments

 

D

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps
​
​Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

​After a detour in universe building with Split and Glass, M. Night Shyamalan is back to his usual self with Old, a film that posits a beach that ages people rapidly.  This kind of high-concept premise rhymes Old with The Happening, where the twist that Shyamalan is famous for is not some third-act development but a wacky what-if scenario, and the result is about the same.  Shyamalan’s growth between the 2008 disaster and his latest is an increased talent for casting.  There’s no dumbfounded Mark Wahlberg to wonder where the bees have gone, but just because he’s working with better actors doesn’t mean they contribute to the script.  Old is a mess of manipulative and incoherent filmmaking that fails to make much of its premise.
The beach in question is in a secluded part of a spa resort, presently being visited by the Cappa family.  Parents Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) are in the process of divorcing, but they haven’t told young children Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River).  Singled out by the spa director, the ostensibly happy family is invited to check out the beach, sold as a particularly beautiful spot of the seaside.  Along with another family, they are provided with plenty of food and dropped off by the resort staff, though they quickly find the actors playing their children have been replaced by older versions of themselves and the grandmother of an accompanying family rapidly decompensates and dies.  Additionally, some kind of disabling force field keeps them from finding their way back out.  Stuck on the beach with body clocks spinning out of control, the Cappa’s watch their children turn into adults and their parents creep toward senescence.
​
If I found myself on a beach that aged people, I have no idea what my reaction would be.  It’s possible that I would constantly get into panicked screaming fights with whoever was with me, but what’s certain is how unwatchable that would be.  Shyamalan always casts himself in his films, and here, he’s tasked with being a monitor of the beach from a high cliff.  His character might have the hardest journey in Old.  The shrieking unpleasantness of this film, where everyone is at a high volume and frequency, destroys any rooting interest.  Coupled with Shyamalan’s clockwork dialogue, where every stilted monologue about someone’s past is a breadcrumb to a final reveal, Old becomes nothing more than an ill-considered thought experiment where Shyamalan looked at a picture of his kids ten years ago and thought there’s a movie in how people age. 

Even that potentially strong device doesn’t work, because there’s no consistency between the three or four actors who play the children beyond a vague physical resemblance.  As Trent ages into Alex Wolff, his body is different but shouldn’t his mind be the same?  It becomes important for Trent to swim somewhere at a point in the film.  Did the 6-year-old version of him know how to do that, and if not, did adult Trent get some comprehensive lessons in this harrowing 24 hour period?  The balance in these kinds of high-concept films is that the viewer should be compelled enough that the obvious questions about plot are put aside, but when there’s no buy-in, the questions are all that’s left.  The terminally stupid final reveal does nothing to tie everything up, leaving only the time that was wasted and a reminder to stop giving Shyamalan chances. 

With actors like Bernal and Krieps, there should be something redeeming in Old.  The viewer has to wait until they approach old age, when they speak less, for either’s talents to emerge.  Facial acting from both is wildly superior to spouting whatever Shyamalan needs them to say.  He has completely lost whatever he had going for him.  Some of the beach’s inhabitants become murderous thanks to mental decay, adding the remnants of a slasher film to Old.  Shyamalan used to be able to create dread.  Now, his tactic is to artificially crowd characters in the frame so that a wider view, where people are lurking or creeping up, is impossible.  The unimaginative nature of this is insulting, as is Old in general.  Is there a beach that reverses time, so Shyamalan can get dumped there and rediscover what made him a promising young director?  D
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Side Pieces

    Random projects from the MMC Universe. 

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Adventure
    Author - Bryan
    Author - Drew
    Author - Jon
    Author - Phil
    Author - Sean
    Best Of 2016
    Best Of 2017
    Best Of 2018
    Best Of 2019
    Best Of 2020
    Best Of 2021
    Best Of 2022
    Best Of The Decade
    Classics
    Comedy
    Crime
    Documentary
    Drama
    Ebertfest
    Game Of Thrones
    Historical
    Horror
    Musical
    Romance
    Sci Fi
    Thriller
    TV
    Western

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    RSS Feed