Old
released 2021
www.ink2quill.com

“Old” is an American, thriller, horror, scifi film produced by Marc Bienstock, Ashwan Rajan, Steven Schneider and M. Night Shyamalan who also directed and wrote the screenplay. The screenplay for the film was taken from a graphic novel called “Sandcastles” written by Pierre-Oscar Levy and Frederick Peeters. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin Mackenzie, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Emun Elliott, Alexa Swinton, Gustaf Hammersten, Kathleen Chalfant, Francesca Eastwood, Nolan River, Luca Faustino Rodriguez, Mikaya Fisher, Kailen Jude, Matthew Shear, Daniel Ison, Jefrey Holsman, Margaux Da Silva, John Twohy and cameos from M. Night Shyamalan himself.

Old IMDb webpage

“Old” takes place at a seemingly tranquil, innocuous, vacation resort for a family of four. The two children in the family, Trent and Maddox, meet the son of the resort manager named Idlib, played by Kailen Jude. They strike up a friendship and Idlib tells them that he has no friends. So, as not to give away too many spoilers suffice it to say that that statement is quite the foreshadowing. There is a very good reason why he has no friends and if you think about it the poor kid is stuck and forced to watch some very sinister things that are going on at the resort. These sinister projects are run and managed by his father. The family is invited to a remote beach nestled inside some very steep cliffs for the day and they accept. That is where their world turns upside down and they began to realize that they have fallen in some kind of a trap, a strange and supernatural trap, the likes of which they and the other beachgoers might not be able to escape from.

Now, what makes “Old” a good watch? Well, for starters the simple non cluttered way the story is told. It is a well told story that moves along well without any jumps in the story where, we the viewer, might get lost along the way. Also, the characters are so relatable and not exaggerated, which is a monumental achievement nowadays. Hollywood films tend to exaggerate characters and scenes to get that adrenaline effect out of people and most of the time they just fail. I loved that about this film.

Sure, there are mistakes in this film, like in all films, but there is an attention to detail that I really loved. A focus on what mattered, like the themes, characters and message of the film is another great thing about this film. It did not lose is way or substitute good storytelling for explosions, violence, beauty or the like. So, all the characters are flawed, ill, broken, in some way. They have health problems, psychological problems and they have made bad decisions, selfish decisions, in some cases.

So, basically the characters are all couples who are all sick with some kind of affliction. You have, for example, a woman with seizures, a woman who found a tumor, a man with severe mental illness and all of these people are in couples who are dealing with their issues as best as they can. Add to the mix their bad decisions and you have couples with a lot to deal with. Like the woman who married the handsome man with money over the ugly man she loved. Their stories are as much confessions as they are problems they must deal with in the present and I loved them for it.

Some of the themes in this film are just so good (in my opinion). Like dealing with our own mortality as well as the mortality of those we care about. Dealing with our bad decisions made out of fear and how so many of our bad decisions are made out of fear. And, and, and, one of the most important themes in storytelling ever, the theme of scapegoating a person or people and how it really is never OK. What the resort manager, played by Gustaf Hammarsten, did to those sick people was unspeakably cruel. I only wish we could have seen the fair trial and punishment he received or maybe that´s in the sequel. Things that are wrong can sometimes sound so convincing.

This film is a fun mystery to watch so check it out and enjoy the ride.

John Ink2Quill

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