Old (2021)

In this movie by director and cowriter M. Night Shyamalan, based on a French graphic novel by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, tourists visiting a resort spa are invited to a unique and special hidden beach. Once there, things begin to happen in strange ways. Time passes more quickly. The three children in the group are suddenly growing into adolescence and then full adulthood. They find they can’t leave the beach the way they came. Every attempt results in a blackout. The beach is otherwise blocked by steep cliffs and ocean on all sides. Eventually they gather around and do some math for our edification. It seems that one hour on the beach is aging them two years. A 24-hour stay, if they can’t get away, will age them to the ends of their lives. It all seems a little silly but that also seems to be part of the intent of the picture, making it into a kind of easygoing lighthearted horror movie with subtle comfort points—a near-total case of cognitive dissonance. A famous rapper (played by Aaron Pierre) is with them, for example. The kids want to approach him but are cautioned that famous people like privacy. His stage name is Mid-Sized Sedan, which I could not take any other way than as a joke, and a pretty good one. Lots of familiar faces dot this ensemble: Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho, Leave No Trace) is one of the kids aged to 16, Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros, Y tu mama tambien) plays well against type as a fuddy-duddy actuary and muddled dad, Ken Leung (Lost, The Squid and the Whale) is a nurse with more common sense than most of the folks on the beach. As usual, Shyamalan twists the narrative near the end with surprises in the form of the explanation. It would be a spoiler for me to discuss so I will leave it to you to discover for yourself. I find myself moving off thinking of Shyamalan as mostly gimmicky. He’s that, for sure, but he’s also just good at making movies that pull you in and keep you committed, with a fair amount of style and wit. The fact that they are arguably silly—and Old certainly is that—only underlines how good they are, how infectiously fun or insidiously suspenseful. I’ve been dubious of Shyamalan for a long time now, but must admit it’s been fun going through his stuff. Cautiously recommended for the feel-good qualities and the jokes. Don’t expect too much.