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Shyamalan’s Old will make your head spin: Review

Photo: Universal Pictures
Photo: Universal Pictures

As if the last year and a half didn’t have enough twists, you can always count on filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan to come up with another. But his latest mystery thriller, Old, is hard to describe. It’s pure insanity from start to finish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Spooky, disorienting, and as strange as can be, the best part of Old is its courageous originality. Shameless individuality is what makes Shyamalan’s work so hard to resist, even when flawed. Old is inconsistent, but it never feels tired.

Based on a Swiss graphic novel, the story follows three families on a Caribbean vacation who take a day trip to a private, isolated beach in a cove. After first realizing they’re stuck there, they soon learn of a scientific anomaly where time is moving faster: every thirty minutes in real time ages everyone an entire year.

That means they have less than a day to find a way off the beach or their entire lives will be reduced to the rest of the day. This is a visual story; it makes sense this was based on a comic and that sound and pictures are how this story should be told.

The best mysteries keep you intrigued, wanting to find out the answer to the core question. What is happening on the beach? And how might they be able to escape? The premise is clear and the story is just detailed enough to be clear and interesting.

Even if the execution is inconsistent, the central mystery is certainly engaging. And the payoff is odd, but I think it’s pretty good. The ending is especially insightful despite the wild journey to get there.

Just as the characters are again and changing every 10 minutes, so does the tone. Is it satirical? Mysterious? Scary? It’s continually changing with the editing, music and even the sentence structure of how the characters speak.

Every so often, there’s a very weird line that seems out of place. Every so often something feels forced or strangely written, and not as if it’s adding to the mystery. Shyamalan is a veteran filmmaker - his editing should be stronger, though the terrific concept overcomes the inconsistencies.

Love it or hate it, the whole thing oozes creativity. It’s not too scary - it’s more a mystery then it is a horror or thriller. There are off-putting ideas, for sure, but nothing grossly unsettling.

One warning I will pass on is that anyone prone to dizziness should be careful, one motif is the camera spinning around the cast in a circle. It’s a very effective technique, but it will make your head spin in more ways than one.

It’s hard to be more descriptive without letting on to the time-being scenarios that keep the mystery engaging. It’s just weird enough for most audiences to not figure out the (ludicrous) answers, but still want to know what’s going on.

Old

6 out of 10

14A, 1hr 48mins. Mystery Drama Thriller.

Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Starring Vicky Krieps, Gael García Bernal, Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff, Rufus Sewell and Rufus Hammersten.

Now Playing at the 5 Drive-In, Cineplex Winston Churchill and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.