Old

I am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan (I even like the Shyamalan movies that most other people hate) and I have been looking forward to Old for what seems like forever so I saw it at the earliest possible opportunity which was a Thursday preview last night.  Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps), along with their children Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River), are vacationing at a resort on a tropical island.  There is a lot of tension between them and it turns out that they are giving their children one final vacation before announcing their intention to divorce.  The manager of the resort (Gustaf Hammarsten) tells them about an exclusive and secluded beach and offers to have an employee (Shyamalan) drive them there for the day.  They decide to go but are annoyed when they are joined by a doctor named Charles (Rufus Sewell), his trophy wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), his daughter Kara (Kyle Bailey), and his mother Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant), as well as a nurse named Jarin (Ken Leung) and his wife Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird).  A rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre) is already there having spent the night with a woman he just met.  When the woman's drowned body is discovered in a cove, they are all horrified to discover that it has decomposed at a rapid rate.  They are also stunned to see that the children are changing drastically every hour (Maddox is played by Thomasin McKenzie at 16 and Embeth Davidtz as an adult; Trent is played by Luca Faustino Rodriguez at 11, Alex Wolff at 15, and Emun Elliott as an adult; and Kara is played by Mikaya Fischer at 11 and Eliza Scanlen at 15).  Evidently, time is passing at a rate of one year for every 30 minutes on the beach and the guests can't seem to leave.  This is an absolutely brilliant concept and I really enjoyed the discussions about living in the present and cherishing the time spent with loved ones.  The tone is incredibly surreal (it reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone) with line deliveries that are almost hysterical in pitch, jarring camera work that emphasizes the disorientation of the characters, and an uncomfortably menacing sound design.  Many might disagree with these choices but they worked for me and I enjoyed the effect.  However, I didn't enjoy the typical Shyamalan plot twist as much as I usually do (I think it is anti-climactic after the tense build-up).  I really need to think about Old a bit more before I decide if I love it but I definitely didn't hate it.

Note:  When I say that I like the Shyamalan movies that most other people hate I, of course, do not mean The Last Airbender.  Did anyone like that movie?