by Cain Noble-Davies

Year:  2021

Director:  M. Night Shyamalan

Rated:  M

Release:  2021

Distributor: Universal

Running time: 109 minutes

Worth: $17.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Ken Leung, Abbey Lee, Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie

Intro:
… a fascinatingly odd film as only Shyamalan can deliver and should prove satisfying for those on the right wavelength.

M. Night Shyamalan might be the single most divisive filmmaker working today. For every five people who question what in the hell he must be thinking when he sets out to make a movie, there’s at least one who not only digs it but is utterly entranced by it. And while he has some undeniable clunkers in his filmography (The Happening, The Last Airbender, After Earth), he’s made something of a comeback in recent years thanks to the found footage ingenuity of The Visit and turning the already-incredible Unbreakable into one of the best superhero trilogies of all time thanks to Split and Glass. As with everything he’s made, Old will likely be an acquired taste, but it’ll be one to savour for those with the palette for it.

Amidst the many recognisable faces in the cast, from up-and-comers like Thomasin McKenzie and Eliza Scanlen to dependable underdogs like Gael García Bernal and Abbey Lee to horror MVPs like Ken Leung and Alex Wolff, Shyamalan has corralled a group of actors who are able to work with his somnambulist style of direction. And as each character succumbs to the eerie effects of the beach, where a lifetime can take place in a matter of hours, the usual stilted delivery that has been a regular punching bag of the director’s work gives way to a Lynchian disconnect that only further brings out the surreality of the situation.

This is aided by the gorgeous production values, which all serve to either add to the chilling atmosphere or extrapolate the psychological effects of this beachside Twilight Zone.

Shyamalan’s taste for long takes, here employed by cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, helps draw attention to just how much time can pass in the space of a few moments, creating a David Lowery-esque effect that works a treat for the larger story. Brett M. Reed’s editing and Trevor Gureckis’ soundtrack add to that effect, along with making the sun-drenched beach that the film is set on feel like the coldest and most desolate place a person could end up.

In a change-up for the filmmaker best known for earth-shaking plot twists, the way the narrative develops here is refreshingly natural, gradually showing a collection of ways that time affects the people on the beach, which range from the contemplative to the let’s-start-sleeping-with-the-lights-on-tonight. As a parable on how time changes people socially, biologically, and psychologically, it serves up a lot of food for thought in how we’re basically watching what happens to every single person every day… but at a speed where the changes are more observable.

Old shows M. Night Shyamalan sticking to the comic book inspiration that has helped revitalise his career, turning the Levy/Peeters graphic novel Sandcastles into a thematic time-lapse that switches from thoughtful asides to ice-cubes-down-the-back shivering sensations without ever losing focus. It is a fascinatingly odd film as only Shyamalan can deliver and should prove satisfying for those on the right wavelength.

8.7Good
score
8.7
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