Respond to these rapid questions in our Old quiz and we will tell you which Old character you are. Play it now.
A family decides to take a vacation to a secluded beach. They speak vaguely about the passage of time in the way that parents frequently do with their children, as when mom expresses her excitement at the prospect of hearing her daughter’s singing voice when she grows up. A short time later, it is revealed that mom may not be able to do so because she has a tumor, and that this may be her “last trip,” either because of her physical well-being or the well-being of her crumbling marriage. The passage of time changes at different points in your life, but it changes the most when you see your children growing up too quickly and are concerned that you may not be able to witness the majority of their development. When M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old,” which is based on the novel by Pierre-Oscar Lévy and Frederick Peeters, is playing thematically with those feelings while also allowing itself to be surreal and frightening in the process, it truly succeeds in its mission. When it feels like it needs to nail down specifics, such as during a disappointing final stretch, it crosses the median line into the silly lane to avoid being overtaken. The mysteries of aging are something that everyone contemplates—”Old” taps into those considerations with just enough style to keep the audience engaged before pulling back from its own precipice.
Guy (Gael Garca Bernal) and his family (Prisca (Vicky Krieps), Trent (Nolan River), and Maddox (Maddox Taylor) are introduced in the film’s opening scene (Alexa Swinton). A secluded beach where they can avoid the tourist crowds is recommended by the resort manager, and they are driven there by none other than Shyamalan himself, in what may be his most meta cameo to date (after all, he is the director, assembling all of his players on the sandy stage). Guy and Prisca’s family isn’t the only one on the run. Their group is supplemented by a doctor named Charles (Rufus Sewell), his wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), his mother Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant), and his daughter Kara (Kathleen Chalfant) (Mikaya Fisher). They are joined by a third couple in the form of Jarin (Ken Leung) and Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird). When they arrive at the beach in a rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan, all of the travelers come face to face with a mysterious traveler (Aaron Pierre). And what is the source of the bleeding from his nose? Is that a dead body on the ground?
From the moment they arrive, the natural beauty of this beach, which is surrounded by steep stone, appears to be threatening. The waves pound against the rock wall, which appears to be growing in height as the day progresses. When they try to walk back the way they came, they become dizzy and collapse on the beach, where they wake up again. Then things get even more bizarre when Trent and Maddox suddenly become significantly older, having aged by approximately five years in a matter of hours. The adults come to the realization that every half-hour spent on this beach is equivalent to a year spent away from it. As the children grow into Alex Wolff, Eliza Scanlen, and the legendary Thomasin McKenzie, the adults must deal with their own physical ailments, such as hearing and vision problems, dementia, and that damn tumor in Prisca’s body. Is it possible for them to get off the beach before 24 hours, at which point they will be 48 years old?
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Old quiz.
What a brilliant concept. Rod Serling would have gotten a kick out of it. And “Old” is extremely effective when Shyamalan is playful and quick with his high concept, as he is in this scene. “Old” isn’t exactly what you’d call a traditional mystery novel. I was never interested in “figuring out” what was happening to this group of people, preferring to think of “Old” as a surreal horror film rather than a thriller that necessitated explanations. Having said that, it appears as though Shyamalan and his team are forced to pull punches in order to keep the film PG-13. After seeing the truly gruesome Cronenberg version of this story, which doesn’t shy away from what happens to the human body over time and doesn’t feel the need to dot every I and cross every “t,” I was intrigued.
Old Quiz
The actors all appear to be willing to embark on a more surreal journey if the opportunity had presented itself. The majority of the ensemble finds a way to get through a script that really makes use of them, moving them around like a kid on a beach before they are washed away by the tide. The performances that stand out the most are Sewell’s confused menace, McKenzie’s palpable fear (she nails it the best, by far, as she understands she is in a horror film more than some of the others), and the grounded center provided by Bernal and Krieps, among others.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Old quiz.
Even though Shyamalan is a director who frequently veers right when he should arguably go left, he and his collaborators manage their tone here better than he has in years, which is saying something. Yes, the dialogue is clumsy and almost entirely expositional about their predicament and attempts to escape it, but that is a feature rather than a bug in this case. When it comes to the tone of the film, “Old” should be exaggerated and surreal, and Shyamalan mostly maintains that tone, helped greatly by some of the best work yet by his regular cinematographer Mike Gioulakis. The duo is constantly experimenting with perception and forced point of view, fluidly gliding their camera up and down the beach as if it’s rushing to keep up with all of the developments as they happen on the beach. Some of the framing in this film is particularly effective, catching a glimpse of the corner of a character’s mouth before revealing that they are now being played by a different actor. A visual feast, it’s the most vibrant film Shyamalan has produced in years, and it’s at its most effective when it’s reveling in its absurdity. There’s something almost magical about how loud the waves are and how imposing the rock wall is; they almost feel like characters.
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It is unfortunate that the film crashes when it decides to provide some reasonable explanations and connect dots that did not really need to be connected in the first place. An improved version of “Old” is available that concludes more ambiguously, allowing viewers to leave the theater with themes to consider rather than having to figure out what was going on. The discussion about Shyamalan’s final scenes is frequently focused on them, and I found the ones in “Old” to be some of his most frustrating because they feel at odds with what works best about the film. “Old” is fascinating and entertaining when his characters are literally trying to escape the passage of time, as people do when their children are growing up too quickly or when they receive a mortality diagnosis. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t live up to its potential as it ages.Also, you must try to play this Old quiz.
For more personality quizzes check this: Demon Slayer Mugen Train Quiz.
