Review: Old

Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps and their two kids go on a tropical holiday that appears as though it might be their last, with both health and marital issues to be faced. They are invited by resort staff to enjoy a private beach with a select few other resort guests. After a bit of fun in the sun things take a sinister turn when a body washes up on the beach. They all try to leave but some kind of force appears to be at work keeping them on the beach. And then the pre-teen kids on the beach appear to be rapidly aging! What the hell is going on here? Rufus Sewell plays a moody top surgeon, Ken Leung (beware any mysterious island that the “Lost” co-star turns up on) plays a nurse, Aaron Pierre is a popular hippity-hopper, and M. Night Shyamalan himself turns up to drive the resort guests to the beach.

 

We can probably all agree that writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”, “Signs”, “The Visit”) is one of the more erratic filmmakers currently working. However, I’m the guy who liked “The Happening” and “After Earth”, but was middling on the popular “Unbreakable” and “Glass”, and hated “Split”. So we’ll probably diverge wildly in the specifics of the matter. I think he’s a much better director than he is a screenwriter. He’s a genuinely effective visual stylist and mood setter, even in one of his worst films “The Village”. As a writer he’s a story/concept guy not so much an actual fully-formed script guy, because he often has trouble taking these initial concepts and fleshing them out properly. Just look at the mammoth disappointment of “The Village”, though in the case of “Lady in the Water” even the initial concept was screwy. I had hoped that this 2021 mystery film would be a rare case of Shyamalan taking an interesting concept (based on a graphic novel this time instead of his own conception) and pulling it off as a feature-length film. I was sceptical that it would stretch comfortably to around 90 minutes and that Shyamalan would get the ending right. Even his best film, “Signs” starts better than it finishes. Thankfully he delivers one of his better films here, a bit like the TV series “Lost” but with Shyamalan sticking the landing better than that initially brilliant but ultimately bitterly disappointing show did. It could’ve been shorn of about 5-10 minutes, but if you enjoy a good sci-fi mystery, you really shouldn’t have too many problems with this one.

 

I was worried with some of the performances in the film’s trailer, and indeed I’m not sure that casting two leads for whom English isn’t a first language in an English language film was for the best. Gael Garcia Bernal fares a heck of a lot better in this regard than does Luxembourg-born Vicky Krieps. Despite plenty of English language film experience, Krieps is distractingly awful here. She’s annoying and stilted throughout. Once again the writer-director puts himself in front of the camera as well, and once again he’s a somewhat competent actor who still isn’t good enough to warrant not using a legitimate actor in the part. Just because you don’t suck as an actor doesn’t mean you need to be in front of the camera, Mr. Shyamalan. On the plus side, Shyamalan has found the perfect location for the story and he offers up a genuinely creepy atmosphere, especially early on. Although it’s not hard to film that stunning scenery, the cinematography by Michael Gioulakis (“Glass”, “Us”, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) is excellent.

 

An excellent mind-fuck concept, a terrific location, and a writer-director on his game. This is no world beater, but it works for what it is. Get ready to get your “Twilight Zone” on here and you shouldn’t be disappointed with the results.

 

Rating: B-