When it comes to the modern Masters of Horror, I think it’s safe to say that M. Night Shyamalan is easily one of the most debated purveyors of genre fare. To this writer, what that indicates is that Shyamalan isn’t a storyteller looking to make movies that easily fit into widely accepted narrative structures adopted by so many others, which is why I think he can be a challenging filmmaker for some viewers to really get into. Personally, I’ll take a director that takes risks and continually challenges themselves any day of the week over a director that plays it safe and sticks to a tried-and-true formula. That being said, Old is certainly going to be another divisive film from Shyamalan that may alienate some and frustrate others, due to the film’s frenetic pacing and storytelling structure as well as how the performances are staged here.
- 7/23/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Everyone likes to talk about the big twist at the end of an M. Night Shyamalan movie: Was it good for you? Did you see it coming? Did it turn the rest of the movie into nonsense? Yet for all the attention paid to Shyamalan’s trademark teasing grand finales, it’s the little twists in his movies — the ones that happen along the way — that can determine whether the film in question is spinning a yarn worth telling or just spinning its wheels.
In “Old,” Shyamalan’s latest is-it-clever-or-just-dumb-or-is-it-both? slow-burn creepshow, there’s a moment you either get past or you don’t. Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) are on vacation at a ritzy tropical-island resort along with their two children, 11-year-old Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and 6-year-old Trent (Nolan River). There’s a bit of drama the kids don’t know about; their folks are on the verge of splitting up,...
In “Old,” Shyamalan’s latest is-it-clever-or-just-dumb-or-is-it-both? slow-burn creepshow, there’s a moment you either get past or you don’t. Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) are on vacation at a ritzy tropical-island resort along with their two children, 11-year-old Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and 6-year-old Trent (Nolan River). There’s a bit of drama the kids don’t know about; their folks are on the verge of splitting up,...
- 7/22/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
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