‘Old’ is BOLD – M. Night Shyamalan Old movie review

It’s not often that I am at a loss for words but it seems the M. Night Shyamalan Old movie has me all tied up in knots, that it’s taken me a day to start writing my review. I had to process and come back to it to finish it up. There’s just so much to talk about but I don’t want to give it all away…

As his story goes

The M. Night Shyamalan Old movie was inspired by the thought-provoking novel, Sandcastle, by French writer Pierre Oscar Lévy and artist Frederik Pee that he was gifted by his daughters on Father’s Day. Naturally, he chose to take that tale of a group of individuals on vacation on a quiet beach who realise that they are rapidly aging to another level.

“With Old, I never wanted the audience to feel safe. I wanted the audience to be figuring out one thing, now another and another and another, like the characters in the movie,” he said in an interview. Well, mission accomplished. The “what next?” question is constantly on your mind in this M. Night Shyamalan Old movie.

I spent my time trying to “learn the lesson” or “find the message” that Shyamalan was trying to teach. Trust me, if you’re looking out for them, there are a few “live in the moment” and “appreciate what you have” reminders, which in a time like now, where we’re wishing time away, a harsh reminder isn’t always a bad thing.

Back to the story…

A group of people vacationing at this lush resort are offered a day on a secluded beach. The manager at the hotel only offers up this day to a “special bunch of people”. When Shyamalan makes his appearance and turns out to be the driver to this special spot – I immediately thought: that would be me exiting the bus. Yup! If Shyamalan movie was driving me to the secluded spot, the jig would be up, people!

Of course, he drops them off, tells them the way and leaves. Once on the beach, with a few more moments of chaos, the families start to realise that they are aging quickly. The tell here being that the children are growing up quickly. Within a small timeframe the six-year-olds are 11-year-olds and so it keeps going…

Now if you don’t want any more details, I’d jump over the spoiler alert paragraph and go straight passed the YouTube link to Let’s keep going…  

Spoiler Alert

It turns out in each of these families, there’s a family member with an illness of some sort. On arrival at the hotel, the families were given an experimental medicine in their welcome drinks. The plan then is to leave them on the secluded beach, where they age quickly to see if the experimental medicine works over time. It’s basically a medical trial with involuntary and oblivious test subjects. And while the trial in real time only takes two or three days, the trial tests the longevity of the medication over years in reality. It’s super clever but ethically… well, just yuck!

Let’s keep going…

The storyline in the M. Night Shyamalan Old movie is just a brilliant concept! Horrifying and also not something I would think is that far-fetched. With the arrogance some have shown in the world, Shyamalan might see, even predict, something really raw here that we’re just oblivious to! If you’re a conspiracy theorist this is a goodie for you.

Cinematography

The location was amazing and I had feelings of watching Jurassic Park as a little girl with my dad at the drive-in. It was all so green and lush and tropical. It was just perfect. Sometimes his choice of shot takes you back to old school thriller movies, grainy and dark and sometimes he throws the sound, so it feels like you’re sitting right in all the action or part of the circle discussion. It’s just so clever.

Casting

It was great to see a fresh-faced cast in the M. Night Shyamalan Old movie. A newish, eclectic, from all corners of the globe kind of cast that really committed to their characters – such good, genuine performances.

And finally…

It’s fair to say that like the movies that came before are weird but brilliant and the M. Night Shyamalan Old movie is exactly that, weird but brilliant. I sat through this hour and bit ‘thinking what on earth is going on?’ Getting to the end is well worth it and the questionable outcome leaves us open to more ethical issues and topics to discuss and debate: do we, don’t we? It’s just brilliant!

M. Night Shyamalan Old movie will be screened at selected cinema’s in South Africa from Friday, 6 August 2021.