Film Review: OLD (2021): M. Night Shyamalan Surprises Viewers with Clever New Thriller

Old Review

Old (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Tomasin McKenzie, M. Night Shyamalan, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Emun Elliott, Alexa Swinton, Gustaf Hammarsten, Kathleen Chalfant, Francesca Eastwood, Nolan River and Luca Faustino Rodriguez.

M. Night Shyamalan has had some huge blockbusters (The Sixth Sense) and some massive flops (Lady in the Water) as well as a few movies somewhere in-between (The Visit) so it comes as a surprise that his new film, Old, is so hard to categorize. Genre-wise, it’s a thriller, a horror film, and a deeply moving human drama all combined in to one and, regardless of how it does at the box-office, it’s something unique–something we haven’t seen before and that’s the reason we go to the movies. Shyamalan isn’t doing something formulaic here and that’s the most impressive part of Old. I also must add that Shyamalan doesn’t disappoint and also delivers his signature twist ending as well.

Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps star as a couple with a troubled marriage who take their kids on vacation hoping to discover some magic in their lives. They’ll discover some magic alright, but it’s certainly not the kind that they were expecting. Their son, Trent (Nolan River), asks people about their occupations when greeting them and is a cute kid. Trent’s sister Maddox (Alexa Swinton) is a little older than her brother but wants to have fun on her vacation. The story kicks into motion as this group and some other guests at the resort the family is staying at are told there is a special beach to get away from the crowd. It’s a place where they can seemingly escape their problems.

M. Night Shyamalan, himself, serves at the driver of a van which takes the selected guests to the beach and drops them off. Supposedly, they’ll be picked up later but knowing this is a horror picture, the audience knows better. Rufus Sewell plays one of the guests, a doctor named Charles, who may the closest thing to a bad guy the film offers other than the apparent curse that is soon to be unleashed on the beach. Charles has come with his wife (Abbey Lee), their daughter (Mikaya Fisher) and his mother (Kathleen Chalfant).

Guy (Bernal) and Prisca (Krieps) are revealed to be having marital problems as well as health problems as far as Prisca is concerned. However, the families on the beach have bigger problems when a dead body floats up in the water and a rapper known as Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre) seems to be the murderer. Or is he?

Soon the kids are growing up in a matter of hours and are played by new actors. Alex Wolff and Tomasin McKenzie take over the roles of Trent and Maddox. It appears the beach is aging people at a rapid pace and that means that Charles’ mother, the oldest, is going to be the first to meet a dire fate as the families try to figure out what is going on and how they can prevent themselves from aging and dying. In a clever series of events, Trent and Charles’s daughter Kara, now older physically but not so much emotionally, “play together” and Kara ends up pregnant. There is the suspense of how a baby will be born into this situation. I won’t tell you what happens.

Also on board are a couple named Jarin and Patricia played by Ken Leung and Nikki Amuka-Bird. Patricia has seizures, as is revealed early on, and this fact has a lot to do with the plot development. There is a scene where the crew has to help remove a tumor from Prisca that is enlarging rapidly and that’s one of the picture’s most interesting and suspenseful scenes. Keep in mind these characters’ ailments because that will help you understand the premise as the film slowly reveals its plot twists.

Bernal and Krieps are the most established actors here and deliver the best performances though Thomasin McKenzie and Alex Wolff, playing overgrown kids, are rather effective themselves. Krieps has appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece Phantom Thread which is a film of Oscar-caliber. Old is not on that level at all but it doesn’t have to be for Krieps to give the role her everything which she does. She and Bernal create some very believable chemistry together. McKenzie shines as the young girl who eventually realizes she’ll miss all the big events in life such as going to the prom. She and Wolff create an authentic brother-sister relationship.

Let’s talk about that plot twist now (in the most vague way) as to avoid spoilers. It reminded me of the ending of Shyamalan’s The Village but it’s, alas, totally different. Don’t worry, though, it’s not all a dream and the conclusion is actually immensely satisfying. That’s all that can be said in a review like this.

Old has its problems. Some of the pacing is off in the middle and the performances by some of the minor players are not as good as those by the heavy-hitters such as Bernal, Krieps, Thomasin and Wolff but these are small quibbles. Sewell’s character got a little annoying as he tries to remember which movie starred Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando in almost every other scene.

Old gives “The Twilight Zone” a run for its money with its clever plot and is M. Night Shyamalan in very good form. It’s a surprisingly moving picture about the triumph of perseverance and overcoming the road blocks life puts in our way. But, it’s also a horror movie too with a surprise ending so everybody wins.

Rating: 7/10

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