When I became aware of this movie I didn’t know it was a M. Night Shyamalan. He adapted it, produced it, and directed it; did that have an effect on my excitement for the movie? Not really but I did wonder if it was a horror movie. It’s not it’s a thriller and fine to watch, if like me you tend to avoid horror. The reason why this movie was on my radar is the graphic novel that it’s based on, Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy & Frederik Peeters.
The ensemble cast has a few faces that I know but no one to pique my interest, it includes Gael Garcia Bernal (Rosewater), Vicky Krieps (The Girl in the Spider’s Web), Rufus Sewell (The Man in the High Castle), Alex Wolff (Human Capital), Thomasin McKenzie (Lost Girls), Abbey Lee (Lovecraft Country), Nikki AMuka-Bird (The Personal History of David Copperfield), Ken Leung (Inhuman), Eliza Scanlen (The Devil All the Time), Arron Pierre (The Underground, Kryton), Embeth Davidtz (Love Victor, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Emun Elliott (GoT).

Synopsis: A family on a remote tropical holiday discovers that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly reducing their entire lives into a single day.

Review: Knowing the premise I spent the movie waiting for clues on why these people were aging so fast and what was happening. There are a few clues here and there about them but nothing that had me guess as to what was going on. I noticed that they all had medical issues, the long shot on the drinks, or the fact that they were observed while on the beach however I didn’t guess has to what was really going on. The reason why they’re on the beach is revealed tower the end; I’ve seen people talk about a twist, it isn’t, not to me. Because it was evident that everyone who was on the beach was selected so the movie only reveals why they were and that was a smart idea for a potential use of the beach, but I’m not sure how that would work in real life.

The strength of the movie comes from the concept, the cast, its themes and commentaries on life, family, and aging. Giving the situation the characters are all in makes it a bit depressing but there’s a lot to unpack from that day on the beach. The film has an emotional impact and works as a idea but the execution is lacking a bit. I didn’t really care about the characters even if I was interested in what was happening to them, and some of the dialogues were not that great.

Old is still worth watching because the concept is that strong, it has more potential than this movie makes it seems maybe a mini-series would have made for sense.

If you’re interested in the source material, help us by getting them from the links below: