OLD

US, 2021, 108 minutes, Colour.

Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicki Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Abby Lee, Nikki Amurka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Emun Elliot, Alexa Swinton, Gustaf Hammerstein, Kathleen Chalfont, Francesca Eastwood, Nolan River, Luca Faustino Rodriguez, M. Night Shyamalan.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

We’re all familiar with those lovely exotic beaches, tropical, seen often in television series like Lost, let alone Fantasy Island. And we are familiar with those lovely, exotic beach resorts, tropical, seen more recently in The White Lotus.

And, while this film is actually a day at a resort, a day at an exotic beach, it is not that kind of day at the beach even though that is what all the characters are expecting.

Since this is a film directed by M Night Shyamalan, we know that it is not going to be straightforward. We know that there will have to be twists. We know that there will be touches of horror. (And there is the director himself, doing one of his usual cameos, driving the soon-to-be hapless characters to the beach, standing on a cliff and filming them.)

The screenplay is based on a graphic novel, called Sandcastle. However, given the development of the plot, Old seems a much better title. Mysterious things happen on the beach, anyone going into a cave or thinking of leaving is suddenly propelled back to the shore. And then, wounds start to heal suddenly. Characters appear differently… We can’t vouch for sanity. What is happening? Old!

Perhaps one of the difficulties of the plot is that the central group of characters is not all that sympathetic. Gael Garcia Bernal plays an actuary obsessed with statistics and percentages, a rather stiff character. His wife, Vicki Krieps, is a museum supervisor with a touch of knowledge of excavations. (And, at times, their performances come across as awkwardly dubbed rather than natural.) There is a doctor, Rufus Sewell, accompanied by his mother and with the glamorous wife, Abby Lee. The first couple have two children, aged 11 and six. The doctor and his wife have a daughter aged six. And, rounding out the characters on the beach are a mysterious singer whose girlfriend’s body washes up on the shore and a psychiatrist and her nurse-partner, she prone to severe epileptic fits.

The point of a review of a film like this is that the plot remaining shrouded in mystery so that audiences might be enticed to go to find out what happens. And, there are plenty of surprises, and the addition of a number of actors as the film goes on for characters on the beach.

But, one of the clues given, is that with each of the groups someone has a serious illness.

The screenplay is something like that old mystery story, And Then There Were None… But, of course, not quite!

To be fair, explanations are given (though scientifically questionable) about what happens on the beach. And, to be fair, proper explanations are given about the resort and its treatments of guests.

Some of M. Night Shyamalan’s thrillers have been excellent, especially The Sixth Sense. The Last Airbender and After Earth, not so good. May be Old is somewhere in the middle.

1. Expectations for a film from the director? Plot, twists, touches of horror? Fulfilled?
2. Based on a graphic novel, the title, Sandcastle? Old as a better title?
3. The Hawaiian resort (filmed in the Dominican Republic), the background reminiscent of Lost, White Lotus…? The landscapes, the seascapes, the cliffs, the tunnels, the caves, the beaches, the coral? The luxury of the resort, rooms, meals, swimming? The musical score?
4. Introduction to the family, Guy, his actuary background, straight up-and-down, quoting statistics? Prisca, museums and exhibits, archaeological knowledge? Maddox, aged 11? Trent, aged 6? Arriving, the welcome from the staff, the cocktails, the rooms? The playful attitudes? The audience discerning the tension between husband and wife? The conversations, edge? The loud arguments? The children hearing? Trying for three days? Having found the resort on the Internet?
5. Trent, meeting Idlib, friendship, asking the visitors their names and occupations? The policeman – and his later involvement? Idlib’s codes, the messages, important for the final solution?
6. The woman on the beach, disrobing, swimming out – and her body later found on the shore?
7. The manager and his associate, charming, the invitation to the special beach, the special customers? Finding the doctor and his wife and their daughter, the doctor’s mother? Patricia and Jarin, her epileptic fit? (The film’s director playing the driver of the van and the supervisor of the filming?)
8. Arriving, the beach, the cliffs? Settling down? The family, the children delighted and playing? The contrast with the doctor, on edge, his wife, age, glamour, the daughter? And care for his mother? Patricia, the psychological background, Jarin as a nurse?
9. The ordinary day at the beach? The singer sitting on the beach, Maddox wanting to talk to him? The children and the floating body? The singer identifying her? The doctor and his hostility, race issues, suspicion?
10. Going into the cave, suddenly repelled back on the beach? The various characters and their attempts to get through the cave?
11. The doctor’s mother, feeling ill, recovery and, the change, her death?
12. The recognition that there was somebody sick in each group? Prisca and her tumour? The doctor and his illness? Patricia and the epilepsy?
13. The first discovery of change, the two children and their ageing, and the children continuing to age, to puberty, Kara and her pregnancy, giving birth, the child not surviving? Eventually ageing to 50?
14. The injuries, stab wounds, the doctor fighting the singer, the quick healing of the wounds? The discovery of time and its fast progress, accepting it? The operation for Prisca, the removal of the tumour, its size, her healing, recovering? Patricia and her finally having a fit?
15. The doctor, propensity for violence, staying apart? The singer, his story, illness, his dying?
16. The doctor, part, madness, knives, the conflict with Guy? The doctor’s death? His wife, her illness, hiding in the cave, upset at her daughter’s pregnancy, the death of the baby? In the cave, the threats, her death?
17. Guy, Prisca’s confession, his knowing the truth, their growing old so quickly, his vision blurring, the conflict with the doctor, his dying? Prisca, her grief, her death?
18. The clue with the lights on the cliff, indication of filming, the site of the driver on the top of the cliff? His phoning to the administrator of the resort?
19. Maddox and Trent, older, resigned, finding of Idlib’s coded message, the warning about the coral, swimming out, seeming to be drowned, the observer noting they were drowned?
20. Their survival, arrival back at the resort?
21. The revelation of laboratory, the scientific experimentation, special powers of the cliffs magnetism and ageing? The scientist observing, the delaying of illness, medication, ambitions to heal the world?
22. The detective, contact, investigations, the police arriving, the arrests?
23. Sufficient explanation and twists? The credibility of the plot, science-fiction? And Maddox and Trent returning home at their advanced age?