Old

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Old follows a disparate assortment of characters, including Gael García Bernal’s Guy and Rufus Sewell’s Charles, as they find themselves trapped on a secluded beach that rapidly ages its occupants. It’s certainly a unique premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly rewarding effect by Shyamalan, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, delivers a somewhat hit-and-miss narrative that fares especially poorly within a midsection rife with distractingly quirky elements – with the inclusion of several head-scratchingly illogical developments heightening the sporadically underwhelming vibe (eg how did that character get pregnant, exactly?) There’s nevertheless little doubt that Shyamalan generally does an effective job of cultivating a distinctly discomfiting atmosphere that sustains one’s interest through Old‘s less-than-captivating stretches, and it’s clear, too, that the stirring work of an exceedingly eclectic cast, which also includes Vicky Krieps, Thomasin McKenzie, and Alex Wolff, ensures that the picture’s second half packs a far more potent (and unexpectedly emotional) punch than one might’ve anticipated. The end result is an almost prototypically uneven Shyamalan effort that undoubtedly (and ultimately) exploits its oddball setup to its full potential, which does, in the final analysis, go a long way towards compensating for the decidedly inconsistent bent of the movie’s first act.

*** out of ****