Old

Growing old has never been so disquieting

“Old” is a film by M. Night Shyamalan from 2021.

At the time, I went to see it at the cinema with low expectations. I simply trusted the director in the hope of having a nice afternoon.

The story tells of a group of people who, during a holiday, get stuck on a beach where they age rapidly (every half hour is like a year of life).

I have to say I liked it. I found it extremely disturbing, but not in any way annoying. I was more curious about how it would end than worried about the fate of the characters.

The film has a horror structure, with the classic escalation of deaths, but with the substantial difference that the aim of the story is not fear (or the sense of horror) as an end in itself. The threat of growing old, and then dying, is an enemy that acts more subtly on the psychology of the characters already undermined by other problems (health, mental or family). And then, behind the events that make up the story, there are motivations that give rise to the classic final twist of Shyamalan’s films.

I admit that in some ways I found it less powerful than his other works, also because I was never able to completely suspend my disbelief in the face of what was happening. But the most interesting aspect of the film is the way in which the dynamics between the characters have been developed, who find themselves growing up or growing old in a few hours, and this completely changes their perspective on what they considered the problems of their life.

The actors are good (including Vicky Krieps, already seen in the series “Das Boot” and in the film “Phantom Thread”, and an old acquaintance like Rufus Sewell). The make-up of the adult characters who age is very convincing, as are the casting choices on the children who grow up during the film. Some of the dialogues aren’t the best, and some of the characters’ choices are a bit far-fetched, both in a negative (typical of horror stories) and a positive way, but overall I spent almost two hours of pure entertainment, so I can’t complain.

In fact, if you have the chance, I recommend you do the same.