Another film about Time that escapes, contains, destroys. Unattainable, inexorable. Nightmare and prison. An all-consuming limit that the long pandemic halt has underlined and, if possible, developed. The inverted hourglass, anticipated or crazy, is the subject of all sci-fi films, from Interstellar a Tenet, gives 2001: A Space Odyssey to recent The Midnight Sky by and with George Clooney. But it is also a constant in black 1940s cinema. And it is not irrelevant that to make yet another repechage of the subject is a director of excellent pedigree com M. Night Shyamalan. A master of thriller, anointed by Split, Glass and from the saga of Unbreakable. Old is the adaptation of a graphic novel French, Sandcastle, created by Pierre Oscar Lévy with the Swiss illustrator Frederik Peeters and published in Italy by Coconino Press. The place of mysteries (and horrors) is a wonderful beach, a natural paradise: white sand between the stacks with the ocean in front. There are thirteen characters of various ages and origins.
Coexistence is not easy. Those looking for an overdose of tranquility and those who indulge in noise and selfies. Chaos, disorder, false happiness that the sound of the waves cannot hide. The breaking point comes when the undertow delivers a woman’s corpse to the shore. It is clear that in that hidden Eden something imponderable is happening, bordering on the magical, or if you like the diabolical. The plot cannot be spoiled. Suffice it to add that the beach is a monster that devours years of life. It cannot be said that Shyamalan lacks the original trait. The Indian director tells us that we are like the musicians on the deck of the Titanic. It speaks of death which is the most terrible of opponents, the only one that is unbeatable precisely because it plays on time. From Merlino del digital touch, Shyamalan he models his film as if he used clay.
Nothing escapes him in the psychological design and in the millenarian message but with strong links to current events. The implantation of the film, outside but stuck in caves and confined spaces, multiplies the levels of tension by relaunching the dismay on the faces of the protagonists: Gael Garcia Bernal (The motorcycle diaries), Vicky Krieps (The hidden thread), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Eliza Scanlen (Little Women), Rufus Sewell (The Father), Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens).
OLD di M. Night Shyamalan
(Usa, 2021, duration 90 ‘)
with Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird
Rating: *** out of 5
In the halls
July 24, 2021 | 07:46
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