Synopsis
M. Night Shyamalan directed the supernatural psychological thriller named ‘Old’ which was released in 2021. The film explores the unnaturally accelerated time within a single day. It heavily draws focus on the wrath of mortality, aging, and unnerving pacing of time – something Shyamalan depicts with supreme precision in his films while adding mystery in the mix.
It centers around a married couple – Guy and Prisca – who seem to be at the brink of taking the scarifying step of divorce. They decide to go with their children, Maddox and Trent, to a tropical resort showcase and try to save their marriage in the meanwhile. The place almost feels too good to be true but adds to the uncanny aura it puts off by offering its tourists exclusive access to a private beach which is highly recommended by a seemingly hospitable manager working at the resort.
All members of the family approve of the trip and a certain portion of other tourists come in the picture which includes Charles (Rufus Sewell), a wealthy doctor and his young wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee) with their daughter Kara. Charles’s mother Agnes along with a nurse Jarin (Ken Leung) and his wife Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird), a psychologist featured alongside the already present Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), a famous rapper who was spotted on the beach prior to their arrival.
When they reach the beach, bizarre incidents start to occur. A young woman who came to the Mid Sized Sedan is found dead in the water. Shortly after that, the rest of the group comes across a rather unsettling realization: everyone is aging faster than anticipated. Children evolve into adolescents in a matter of hours and adults experience gray hair, wrinkle formation, and additional eye disorders after a single afternoon. It seems as though the rate at which time passes is accelerated to such a level that every thirty minutes equates to the reality of several years of aging prior.
When panic sets in, the group try to exit the beach, but crossing the surrounding cliffs makes them blackout and reappear on the beach. They are effectively stuck. Children Trent and Maddox quickly age into adults (later played by Alex Wolff and Thomasin McKenzie) and experience the shifts of puberty, both physically and emotionally, in a whirlwind.
Each persona grapples with their deepest, all-consuming dread. Within minutes, the woman has a life-threatening tumor that grows exponentially. Besides Charles, the rest of the group suffers from uncontrollable and undiagnosed violent paranoia, resulting in increasing levels of violence. Chrystal, suffering from youth and beauty obsession, becomes increasingly disfigured and isolated. Even the elder members of the group die off at an accelerating and alarming rate.
This group attempts to make sense of the situation and contemplate possible means to escape. The beach transforms into a metaphor for life and death— beautiful yet deadly, passive yet inescapable. While trying to discover answers, they find out that the resort they came from is not just a holiday getaway but a cover for a secret medical experiment. Guests were supposedly selected for their individual unique medical conditions. The prolonged exposure to the beach enables the resort’s researchers to simulate long-term effects of medicated treatment within a day—turning the guests into unwilling human test subjects.
Most of the group succumbing to age, disease, or despair, only now-adult Maddox and Trent remain. These survivors follow clues left behind by a previous visitor to swim through an underwater coral tunnel that leads them outside the beach’s radius. They are rescued by authorities, and they subsequently expose the resort’s activities, effectively shutting down the sinister operation.
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Cast and Crew
Gael Garcia Bernal as Guy Cappa
As the role of Guy Cappa, an anxious father to the children, Bernal has to balance rationality with emotional fragility. The loving father tries to keep the family together.
Vicky Krieps as Prisca Cappa
Krieps conveys complexities of a struggling mother grappling with an illness and regret seamlessly, particularly in moments when Wrps faces the reality of aging, which takes place in fast forward.
Alex Wolff and Thomasin McKenzie as Adult Trent and Maddox
Both actors effectively depict the rapid, and at times, disturbing psychological and emotional metamorphosis from children to adults. Their performances help anchor some of the film’s more alien and strange components into genuine human feelings.
Rufus Sewell as Charles
Sewell portrays a troubling performance of a man under the beach’s mental strain Sewell descends into madness, adding an unsettling and volatile aspect to the group dynamic.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Shyamalan, who is well known for movies such as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, infuses his trademark atmosphere of eerie suspense. When juxtaposed with Old, which seems to be another one of his high concept mystery riddled plots, not everyone seemed to appreciate the execution.
Based off Sandcastle, a graphic novel by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters
The graphic novel is heavily allegorical and lacks a definitive plot, but the film broadens the narrative scope to include more of Shyamalan’s usual twist ending.
Mike Gioulakis’ Cinematography
Gioulakis maximizes the sense of confusion and claustrophobia in the film through use of tight framing, disorienting angles, and tracking shots that are fluid, highlighting the dualistic beauty and horror of the beach.
Trevor Gureckis’ Music
The score escalates the discomfort in the film and aims to heighten the emotional and suspenseful tone using minimalist, jarring motifs.
IMDb Ratings
Old has a score of 5.8/10 on IMDb as of 2025, indicating divided reception from both audiences and critics. Many praised the originality of the underlying themes regarding the inevitability of aging and time while some others critiqued the film for poor pacing, unnatural dialogue, and lack of depth in character development.
Critics had a mixed reception towards the film. Some found the premise genuinely disturbing and thought-provoking, especially in context to the real-world fear of aging, disease, and the loss of control. Others felt the execution did not live up to the potential of the idea, arguing that performances were overshadowed by the film’s exposition-heavy script and inconsistent tone.
Regardless of the split reception, the film sparked significant discussion due to the nature of the concept, the director’s reputation for incorporating plot twists, and modest performance at the box office. For some it was a refreshing return to form, while for others it fell short of the director’s earlier successes.
Conclusion
Straddling the line between horror and thrill, Old attempts to capture one of humanity’s most primal fears: the passage of time—capes it in thrilling, terrifying fashion. Through M. Night Shyamalan’s high concept take on the film, a seemingly beautiful, tranquil beach is transformed into a location plagued by existential dread. Despite its narrative and tonal flaws, the film is bound to be remembered for both its frightening atmosphere and its unique, compelling premise.
With striking visuals and solid performances, the film finds success in grappling the viewer with philosophical musings and deeply emotional reflections, even while adhering to the baseline structure of a traditional thriller. Old is the story of how fast life passes us by, with its focus on regret, lost loved ones, and moments frequently brushed aside.
So long as Old is approached with reasonable expectations, fans of psychological thrillers, speculative fiction, and Shyamalan’s stylistically driven verhalen will not be let down. Surrounded by haunting imagery, Shyamalan provides us with a chilling, albeit flawed, experience that goes on to showcase just how scarce—and precious—time is, for us all.
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