Life is a beach — Shyamalan-style
Old
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Alex Wolff,
Thomasin Mckenzie
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Duration: 1 h 48 m
Available: Cinemas
I arrived at Old with a headful of questions. And 108 minutes later, I still had a headful of questions. But not the same questions. I suppose, in an M. Night Shyamalan film, that counts for something.
If you’ve seen trailers for the film, you know the premise: Married couple Guy and Prisca (Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps) and their two kids visit a secluded beach while at a tropical resort. But once there they discover they are aging rapidly. In a day, two at most, they’ll be dead of old age.
The writer-director, adapting the graphic novel Sandcastle, spends some time setting the scene. We see the family in the van from the airport and arriving at the Anamika Resort, where they are welcomed with designer cocktails and a plethora of activities. (Anamika is Sanskrit for “nameless.” Clue or red herring? You decide!)
Dialogue informs us that Guy is an actuary and Prisca a museum curator. One of them is ill, and both are considering splitting up. The kids are vaguely aware of the latter fact. Six-year-old Trent makes a friend of the resort manager’s son. Eleven-yearold Maddox keeps a close eye on him.
On their first full day at the resort, it’s off to the beach, which is where the real weirdness sets in. It wouldn’t do to describe Old as a full-on body horror or a completely psychological one, though there are elements of both at play.
In addition to the family, there are two more couples there, plus a doctor (Rufus Sewell), vacationing with his much-younger wife (Abbey Lee), their daughter and his mother. Trent and Maddox quickly grow into teenagers, now played by Alex Wolff and Thomasin Mckenzie.
Escape seems impossible. Backtracking through the canyon from which they arrived causes people to black out and wind up back in the sand. Powerful currents preclude swimming for help. And of course there’s no cellphone reception.
And the ending is ... interesting.
Suffice to say there is an explanation of sorts as to why a ritzy resort would strand guests on a beach that is trying to kill them. It’s not a Sixth-sense-style aha! reveal. It’s more of a Knives-out-type elaboration. ∏∏∏½