M. Night Shyamalan is one of the more interesting directors working today and his penchant for taking wild story risks and employing twist endings has become the subject of jokes and memes. While his early filmography started out strong with films such as The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000) his later attempts became more divisive with audiences and critics alike. His creativity and chutzpah are admirable and when he is firing on all cylinders his work is fascinating. His newest flick Old (2021), based on a French graphic novel, has a fantastic concept but unfortunately it encompasses all of Shyamalan's worst tendencies.
Old takes place on a beautiful tropical resort that is home to a expansive secluded beach. A husband and wife who are on the brink of divorce take their two children there as a last vacation before telling them the bad news. On an excursion to the beach with three other groups of people, everyone discovers to their horror that time passes much faster while there and that everyone is aging at an accelerated rate. For some mysterious reason whenever anyone tries to leave the area they pass out. It becomes a race against time to figure out how to escape before everyone dies of old age.
The idea of exploring aging as body horror is intriguing. We don't think about it as much while it is happening because it is a long gradual process, but it is scary to contemplate the decay and degradation of one's body. Having just turned forty myself, I am starting to see the decline personally, and even though it happens to everyone eventually, it is still shocking when it starts. Where Old shines is in its depiction of rapid aging with the characters experiencing terrifying effects like bone loss, cataracts, and hearing loss. The children aging up into adulthood in mere hours also poses some fascinating moral quandaries which Shyamalan isn't shy to address. What if humans lived like mayflies, born and dead in 24 hours? That is the existential question posed and ultimately answered (kinda) in Old.
Unfortunately, the writing and subsequently the performances are the ultimate failing in Old. The dialogue is awkward and stilted with obvious exposition dumps and strange asides. It never feels like the characters are interacting naturally with each other, almost as if all of their performances were captured in a vacuum and spliced together. Due to the bad script, the acting also feels weird and off-putting with everyone emoting the best they can under the circumstances. This imparts an uncanny valley feeling to the atmosphere that ruins any real horror the film might have had and instead propels it towards camp and exploitation territory. I will say I wasn't ever bored while watching Old, but the execution is sloppy and unfocused.
Director of Photography Mike Gioulakis' cinematography, framing and lighting choices are excellent and for the most part Old is fantastic on the visual front. The beach itself is gorgeous and they never miss a chance to showcase the scenery, and the film was shot on 35mm which is becoming rare. Even when the actual movie is bad Shyamalan always excels at choosing the best camera angles to tell a story and he continues that tradition here, utilizing slow pans, zooms, and wide shots to great effect.
Old isn't going to change anyone's mind about Shyamalan if they aren't a fan of his work, but the sheer audacity of some of the choices made in it makes it worth a look even though it has a myriad of technical issues with the script.
--Michelle Kisner