{"id":23213,"date":"2021-07-22T14:29:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T21:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23213"},"modified":"2021-07-22T14:29:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T21:29:43","slug":"old-has-an-interesting-concept-but-doesnt-make-a-lasting-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23213","title":{"rendered":"OLD Has an Interesting Concept, But Doesn\u2019t Make a Lasting Impression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature from Universal Pictures opens at cinemas on\nFriday, July 23rd<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. Night Shyamalan is a unique and interesting filmmaker perhaps\nmost noted for his twisty thrillers. For this reviewer, features like The\nSixth Sense<\/em>, Unbreakable<\/em>, The Village<\/em>, The Visit<\/em> and Split<\/em>\nhave been remarkably effective (I\u2019m quite partial to the first season of Wayward\nPines<\/em> as well). But like any writer\/director, he\u2019s also had a couple of\nmisfires that haven\u2019t made a lasting impression. His latest attempt to bend\nminds is Old<\/em>, which is based on the popular graphic novel Sandcastle<\/em>.\nIt boasts some interesting ideas and a few exceptional individual moments, but is\nsaddled with too many elements and doesn\u2019t gel as efficiently as his best work.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins with Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), his wife\nPrisca (Vicky Krieps), 11-year-old daughter Maddox (played in the majority of\nscenes by Thomasin McKenzie) and sex-year-old son Trent (also played in part by\nAlex Wolff) taking a family vacation at an island resort. There is conflict\nbetween the parents, who are secretly deciding the how to break some bad news\nto the youngsters. Soon after arriving, the hotel manager (Gustaf Hammarsten)\ninvites the leads and a few other guests to a secluded beach on the other side\nof the island. It isn\u2019t long after arriving that the group find themselves immersed\nin danger. A body washes up onshore and individuals soon begin showing rapid\nphysical changes. The tourists also discover that they are unable to leave the\nbeach, leaving them panicked and confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept is intriguing and the movie does feature some\ncreative ideas as the troubled characters deal with an incredibly bizarre\nsituation. After finding connections between themselves and coming to\nconclusions about what may be occurring, their primary concern quickly becomes\nescaping the beach. Like parents Guy and Prisca, all of the beachgoers have serious\nproblems of either a physical or psychological nature. Trapped together in a\nremote location forces the group to rapidly confront and deal with their issues.\nIn particular, heavy concerns like aging, illness and loss are addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This story has a large cast, many different aspects to its\nstory and important themes to juggle. Additionally, they all must be dealt with\nin a very short period of time. It leaves the final product feeling rushed and\ncausing some narrative blips. The nature of the tale doesn\u2019t allow for much\nrumination, instead moving from one major life changing event to the next. It\ncertainly creates a lot of conflict, but the behavior on display isn\u2019t always\nrelatable. At times, characters awkwardly deliver exposition about what is\noccurring onscreen, which is always a problem. And the massive changes in the\nkids and their behavior isn\u2019t always convincing – viewers will certainly\nquestion some of the behavior as inconsistent given the situation. The screenplay\ncertainly tries to deal with Trent\u2019s mental state as he changes radically over\na period of hours, but it never feels as convincing as it should. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The photography is definitely unique. As always, the\ndirector enjoys using long master shots and there are few clever and unusual ones\npeppered into the film. There is some very strange framing early on, although\nit becomes clear that there is a reason for it besides creating a general sense\nof unease. Another technique involves the camera panning away from the\ncharacters to the water, before returning shortly afterwards, subtly hinting at\npassages of time. And the movie gets a lot out of the strange physical phenomenon\noccurring on the beach, including a couple of impressive moments as characters\ndeal with nasty and traumatic wounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As with most pictures from the filmmaker, there is more to\nbe revealed as the story reaches its finale. However, the ending isn\u2019t as\nstriking this time out and the explanation is more detailed and less\nimmediately shocking as in other efforts from the director. This is likely an\nissue with the source material, as well as trying to condense and explain so\nmany experiences and traumatic incidents into an incredibly short period of\nscreen time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old<\/em> is always interesting, but it never really\nsustains disbelief on the part of the viewer. And rather than being wowed by a\nsimple and powerful climax, the last ten minutes seem cobbled-together. The\nstory should resonate on an emotional level, but the mind instead goes back\nover the plot specifics, trying to fill in gaps for the rationale and actions\nof the beachgoers. There are a few good moments here and there, this thriller doesn\u2019t\nend up making a long or lasting impression. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from Universal Pictures opens at cinemas on Friday, July 23rd. M. Night Shyamalan is a unique and interesting filmmaker perhaps most noted for his twisty thrillers. For this reviewer, features like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village, The Visit and Split have been remarkably effective (I\u2019m quite partial to the first season of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,985,8052,8746,12832,14523,15306,15311,15313,15314,22785,22825,23407,23562,23753],"class_list":["post-23213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-alex-wolff","tag-gael-garcia-bernal","tag-gustaf-hammarsten","tag-m-night-shyamalan","tag-mystery","tag-old","tag-old-film-review","tag-old-movie-review","tag-old-review","tag-thomasin-mckenzie","tag-thriller","tag-twist","tag-universal","tag-vicky-krieps"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}