Old does have its surprises, but the title tells you everything you need to know.
Step One: A family goes on vacation. They’re quirky and beautiful like their destination, a tropical, paradisal place. Hiccups pass as each member tries their best to enjoy this special moment. How sweet.
Step Two: Something terrible happens, destroying all good vibes and any hope of a return to normalcy. If you’re curious about what that could be, well, I won’t mention the title again.
There is a contrast of wonder and terror here. Smart! As aging may well be the scariest thing out there, the bulk of the movie is for us an uncomfortable, emotional experience. Kudos go to the concept-creator here—and the actors, who portray our fundamental fear at its most horrifyingly condensed.
Whether you’ll enjoy it all, though, will depend on your patience with the characters, and especially with the ending. Would you do what they do? Can you believe this is happening?
For most of the time, I thought yes. Brilliant camerawork—capturing one character frozen while the others are in motion, or, close-framed and obscuring but hinting at the objects of all these horrified gazes—had me begging for some resolution.
And then, alas, it came. And then, I felt a little older.
Another smartly-framed scene in which the camera stays put—increasing our increasingly-desperate curiosity.