1. Setting
This film is a typical type of film that revolves around an "idea", or "setting", and then generates a story. Therefore, this core setting has also become the biggest attraction of the movie, which is the so-called "high concept". The success or failure of the setting depiction often determines the success or failure of the film. For any such movie, the audience will be very sensitive to the rationality, but I must first state one thing: this is a movie with a surreal theme, and we cannot judge the settings in the movie based on real physics, etc. Is it reasonable, otherwise almost all science fiction films and horror films will be unwatchable. The bugs set in this type of film can only be found from the perspective of story development and whether the logic of character behavior is self-consistent. Let's see if the settings of this film are OK.
First of all, we list the following facts based on the language and lines of the film. Here we only rely on the information provided by the film itself, and do not consider off-site interviews, tidbits, etc.:
1. There is a beach on a small island (mentioned in the lines), the beach is surrounded by peculiar rock cliffs, and the path to the beach is only a narrow "one line of sky" canyon. These rocks (a conjecture is given in the film through the notes of the science fiction writer, but the decisive indication is the rock specimen placed in the glass case in the laboratory at the end of the film) has some magical power, which we will temporarily call this power for [radiation].
2. The effect of [Radiation] has a certain range, which we temporarily call [Field]. 【Domain】covers land, sea and air. In the movie, three lives and several faintings are used to illustrate that once a person reaches the edge of 【Domain】, they will be shocked and lose consciousness. , it is very easy to mislead the audience if you don’t pay attention to the lines. If you don’t pay attention to the lines, it will feel like teleporting back), and after swimming in the sea or climbing up the rock wall and fainting, there is only one dead end. According to Dr. Charles, the feeling was like rising from the deep ocean, with elevated brain pressure. According to Nurse Jarin's reasoning, leaving the [domain] is like returning to the surface quickly from the deep sea, and the body cannot adapt unless it takes 8-10 hours, take one step, stop one step and slowly leave, allowing the body to have a buffer period , it's a pity that no one in the film has the opportunity to try this method.
3. The most intuitive manifestation of [radiation] power is to make nearby organisms (doubtful about the effectiveness of plants), including animals (pet dogs, there are no fish in the nearby sea area, and finally the fish reappears after the sister and brother leave the rock effect area) ) accelerated aging. At the same time, other similar manifestations are: wound healing, pregnancy and childbirth, corpse decay, and, most importantly, the accelerated development of human diseases (including the phenomenon of tetanus caused by rust). But eating, drinking, sleeping, and sleeping are basically unaffected (otherwise, the movie wouldn't be able to shoot). Hair and nails will not grow, as explained in the film.
4. The speed is accelerated, according to the description in the movie (on the one hand, it is estimated by everyone on the beach, and the staff of the pharmaceutical company at the end of the film also gave the same conclusion, which can be considered quite accurate), about 30 minutes = 1 year, that is, about 1 second = 5 hours, 1 minute = 12 days. A day at the beach is about 48 years old, which means that basically it's hard for all but teenagers to survive 24 hours.
5. As children grow up, due to the increase in body mass, they need to supplement a lot of food (there are at least 3 scenes of children crying and eating in the movie, and there is a small detail. After the younger brother Trent had a relationship with the girl Kara, Trent made it clear Means not hungry, but Kara is hungry to eat because she is pregnant and needs to have a baby), but the weight does not change as adults get older, so there is no need to eat a lot. That is, the aging process in the slice takes into account the naive principle of mass conservation, but not energy conservation.
6. In the same way, babies need a lot of food in the process of growing up (children grow up the fastest when they are just born), but babies do not have enough food and eating ability, so they cannot obtain the quality they need to grow up, so they die quickly. (1 minute = 12 days calculated earlier).
7. Although the increase of biological age will not bring the accumulation of knowledge and experience, children's brains are underdeveloped and hormone secretion is lacking. Aging will change these and further change their way of thinking. Many things can be mastered without deliberate teaching, otherwise how could the ancestors of primitive people reproduce to this day. This is confirmed in the film through the lines and the behavior of the characters.
8. [Radiation] can be shielded by nearby corals, so it can smoothly leave the [Field] through the hole in the middle of the coral.
The above are the creations of nature. Next, let’s look at the driving force behind the story, how WARRENWARREN pharmaceutical company uses the effects of [field] and [radiation] to achieve its own goals, and still list the facts in the film:
1. The functions of [Field] and [Radiation] were discovered by chance by a scientific research team of WARRENWARREN Pharmaceutical Company. The members of the scientific research team should have a tragic end. There is a memorial wall at the end of the film, and the word "LOST" is used to refer to it. To define the scientific expedition team, the names of the members are engraved on the wall. Everyone knows what this means.
2. It may be that some members of the scientific expedition team escaped by chance (passing coral?), or it may be that after the expedition team was wiped out, it attracted the attention of WARRENWARREN Company and sent a new scientific research team with preparations. Regardless of the reason, WARRENWARREN Company Researched and mastered the secrets of [Field] and [Radiation], and kept this secret inside the company, and decided to use it to experiment with new drugs, compressing the experimental process that would have taken years or even decades into one day. I can't help but want to complain here, you found such a nb place, you only thought of such a little use, and you did it so badly...
3. WARRENWARREN adopted the method of deceiving innocent people to obtain the experimental subjects. The process is as follows: conduct a lottery activity on the pharmacy invoice (accurately locate the patient audience) - screen and further screen the subjects according to the patient's online contact information - Then contacted him and informed him of the award - Arranged a special car and chartered flight to bring patients to the resort - Delivered new drugs into the body of the experimental subjects through food and drink during the stay - The manager privately informed him that there was a beautiful beach and kept him secret - Special car Sent to the entrance of the beach to inform them of the entry method—induce the subjects to enter the beach and observe the video through the telephoto device throughout the process—confirm that the subjects are all dead and clean up their rooms and personal belongings—conclude the effect of the new drug by analyzing and observing the video results.
4. Since the corpse will turn into bones in 6 years (3 hours at the beach), and the bones will turn into dust in about 30 years (15 hours at the beach), there will be no corpses on the beach, but non-living things will not be affected. , so people who enter the beach later can find the personal belongings left by their predecessors. Most of the personal belongings will be washed into the sea at high tide (there is a camera in the film), and a few will be buried in the sand.
5. The above mode, WARRENWARREN company has carried out 73 times, in addition to this miss, there have also been accidents before (the driver played by the director at the end of the film revealed in the phone conversation), indicating that the accident rate of this routine is not low.
6. Although this experimental model is not very reliable (the resort manager said at the end of the film, there are not many cases where the conclusion of the experiment was reached, so in the end, when the epilepsy special medicine was successful, a special person was invited to speak), but it did bring WARRENWARREN company. A lot of money, the father Guy, who works in an insurance company, said at the beginning of the hotel that the WARRENWARREN company is developing very well.
The above is all the setting content of the movie. Like other Shyamalan movies, it is very complete and orderly, and everything that can be explained is explained as much as possible. Regardless of whether it is reasonable or not, at least the attitude is here. This is also what I like about Shyamalan movies. One of the important reasons is that it is much stronger than many directors who dig holes and don't fill them.
So, is there a bug in this setting? Personal opinion, there are flaws, but the flaws do not hide the flaws.
First of all, the natural setting is basically complete, explaining the source, the principle, and why you can't get out. The various manifestations of old age also try to give direct shots (except for losing consciousness and running back to the beach in the first-line days. ). At the same time, the ins and outs of the whole story have all been explained, no matter how reasonable it is, this attitude has surpassed many suspense movies that dig holes and leave them blank.
Secondly, there are also problems. For example, since the decay of the corpse will accelerate, why not the food? Meat food is also essentially a "corpse". Of course, it can be said that vegetarians will not, because there is really no such thing as chicken thighs in the film (including a scene on a food safety bag, and only cookies, pasta, sandwiches and candy).
Then, the biggest bug in the movie actually appeared in the artificial part at the back, that is, the suffocation operation of the WARRENWARREN company. There are many unreasonable things here. The first is how the black shops are not exposed. You must know that what this resort does is essentially the same as opening a family meat bun shop. Among these 73 people, even if there are 2 It is proved that he finally appeared in the resort, and the police will inevitably suspect and further discover the tricks in the resort. And it's not difficult to prove this, especially in the Internet age, it's normal to go on vacation and post social media, you can clear a tourist's personal belongings, but you can't clear his social account. Not to mention, communication with family and friends before the trip (you can see that the siblings have an aunt at the end of the film), even if it is mentioned that they went to the XX resort, someone will eventually come to the door. And it can be seen from the movie that WARRENWARREN company is also a pharmaceutical factory, and it does not have any special anti-reconnaissance capabilities. For example, the driver brother left after watching it for 1.5 minutes. By the way, will you die if you watch it for 5 minutes? In the end, the two brothers and sisters came to the door, and there were no countermeasures and filings. It can be seen that the organization of WARRENWARREN is very lax, and it is really an unreasonable miracle to be able to deceive the 73rd round. Second, the symptomatic drugs for many diseases need to be taken for a long time. How can there be a drug that can be used for decades after drinking once or a few times? This experimental model is very outrageous. Besides, does the mother Prisca’s tumor depend on a single dose of medicine? cured? The last simple operation is done, what can this experiment produce?
Finally, the reason why the unreasonable things appear in the artificial organization part, I guess it may be because the natural setting in the front is adapted from a graphic novel after all, and the setting in the back is forcibly added by the director himself, which will inevitably be a bit blunt.
2. Characters
Next, let’s take a look at the characters on the beach. This film has a single scene and is a group play, without the usual male and female protagonists. The plot and theme are all driven and explained by these characters. Through them, we can see what the film wants to express. There are 4 groups in total, 12 people and 1 dog. The actor's birth year is in brackets. Although the actual age of the actor and the character's age are often quite different in ordinary movies, I think there is a certain reference value in this film. The age at the beach is basically the same as the actor's age:
【The protagonist's family】
Father Guy (1978): According to the actor's age, he was in his early 40s when he went to the beach. He had no obvious disease. After old age, his eyesight deteriorated severely, and he finally died between the age of 70 and 80. Occupation is an actuary of an insurance company. He likes to use data and probability to analyze problems. There are at least 3 related lines in the film. Guy is actually an ordinary person who always likes to focus on the future and ignores his wife's current feelings. After accidentally discovering that his wife is cheating, he is even afraid of causing harm to the family after a showdown. He is indecisive and hesitates on the beach. He is a typical straight man in science and engineering. He can't understand women's careful thoughts in his life, and he doesn't understand why his wife asks what book he is reading, but at the same time, he loves his family deeply, is kind and upright, and when his wife falls ill When I was young, I made a quick decision and overcame the weaknesses in my character. This was the first time I stood up to protect my family at a critical time. This was the second time. I looked at the sea before I died and realized my life. This was the third time. , and finally realized the transformation and sublimation of an ordinary person, and walked the road of his life in one day, and the character arc is perfect. In the end, the scene where he and his wife tell each other, accompany each other, and pass away peacefully can be said to be the most touching scene in the film.
Mother Prisca (1983): According to the age of the actor, she was about 37 or 8 years old when she arrived at the beach. She suffered from a benign tumor. During the aging process, the tumor became larger and worsened. At the same time, she lost half of her hearing and finally died between 65 and 75 years old. Considering It's more reasonable to have major surgery. Working in a museum, I used my professional skills to determine the time it took for a corpse to decompose, and further calculated the rate of aging. Prisca is also a common type of women growing up. The boring family life after marriage makes her tired of marriage. At this time, an unexpected tumor has completely changed her mentality. Although she doesn't care about her mouth, she is very scared. This fear turned into motivation to enjoy life in a timely manner, so she began to cheat and made up her mind to leave her husband. The guilt of cheating and abandoning the family combined with the survival pressure brought by the disease made her extra sensitive and haggard. After the operation, she realized the meaning of life after having died once. The act of bending over to protect her husband from the knife was not only a kind of atonement, but also from the heart. In addition, the book she read on the beach was "a dangerous liaison" by carole seymour jones.
Daughter Maddox: 11 when she got to the beach, should be around 55-60 when she finally escapes. As the face value of this film, Maddox is a rather weak role in portrayal, neither reflecting the role of the sister's identity nor having too much substantive impact on the promotion of the plot. More often, they are in the position of a guide who leads the way, or a vassal of their parents' emotions. They are separated from each scene. The only time when the inner drama broke out was interrupted by Jarlin's body. You can imagine removing this character. , Does it have any impact on the progress of the story of this film?
Son Trent: 6 years old, should be around 50-55 when he finally escapes. Absolute VIP, "true protagonist" treatment. Although he is only 6 years old, he is the first person to break through the conspiracy of WARRENWARREN. Make friends with the nephew of the resort manager, he is the one who got the important information about coral, and he is the one who remembers to bring the sci-fi writer's notebook before escaping. He has a good memory and remembers everyone's name and occupation (the information is given to the audience on the side), and finally he can find the policeman Still him. At the same time, there are many advantages, such as: an instant hit, excellent fertility (mistaken), affectionate and righteous to others, saying that he wants to marry Kara and will not divorce (the shadow of parents giving a 6-year-old child, very real), said My sister is the best friend, and in the end she will never leave the coral.
The protagonist's family was deceived to the beach because of his mother Prisca's tumor (this also shows the ferocity of the WARRENWARREN company, at the expense of 3 other innocents, including 2 children, for 1 subject), and assumed the responsibility of the film. The main perspective of the film, the background is also the most complete, and most of the ideas the film wants to express are reflected in them.
【Doctor's family】
Doctor Charles (1967): According to the age of the actor, he was in his early 50s when he went to the beach. He suffered from violent schizophrenia (there is a line at the end of the film that he was a violent schizophrenic patient), and died of tetanus infection, about 70 years old . Occupation is the chief physician of surgery, which is a character of high social and economic status in American movies. This is also a character with a lot of content. First of all, he has the most identity on the beach, son, husband and father; secondly, his professional skills play a big role in the plot (judging the age of children, surgery to remove tumors), at the beginning everyone Unconsciously dependent on the doctor (reminiscent of "LOST"); finally, he also assumed the role of a villain boss in a sense, which is one of the horror elements in the movie. His mental illness is clearly caused by the high work pressure in the movie. As he ages, it becomes more and more serious. The movie co-starred by Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, which he thinks about when he is nervous, comes from the director's father's personal experience. As a white elite, Charles always mispronounced the name of the Asian jarlin, and secondly, he saw a black singer when he first arrived at the beach and asked his wife to set the camp farther away. Personally, I think this is an obvious hint of racial discrimination. You must know the director Also people of color.
Wife Chrystal (1987): According to the age of the actor, she was about 33 years old when she arrived on the beach. She suffered from calcium deficiency and died at the age of 50-55. Before her death, her bones were repeatedly fractured due to calcium deficiency for many years. He healed quickly and became inhuman, probably the one who died the worst. Occupation is unknown, but according to the actor's identity, it can be roughly inferred that it is a model, or it is reasonable to marry a doctor and become a full-time wife. Aging is the hardest thing for women to bear is the disappearance of youth and appearance, so such a role must be arranged. Although there are some vain and gaudy things in the play, such as her daughter panicked and ran away after she was pregnant, and she didn't do anything to hurt the world, but the person who is most concerned about her appearance died in the ugliest appearance, which is a very straightforward metaphor and ridicule.
Mother Agnes (1945): According to the age of the actor, he was about 75 years old when he arrived on the beach and died at about 81 years old. He had no obvious symptoms, only said that he had heart discomfort, and he was suspected of dying of heart failure. The adopted dog died shortly thereafter, as the dog's lifespan is only a dozen years. There are very few scenes, and the main role in the play is to bring out the first small climax and reveal the setting. A few lines revealed her understanding, trust and pride in her son, and asked him to help others, showing that although she knew his son's pressure, she would actually increase it.
Daughter Kara: About 6 years old when she got to the beach, died between 20-30 years old. It belongs to the tool people. First, it has perfected the setting of pregnancy and childbirth. Second, it tells the audience that it is impossible to climb out. Third, it adds a color of tragedy and despair through the lines.
【Asian-African couple】
Husband Jarin (1970): According to the actor's age, he was about 45 years old when he arrived at the beach (it is assumed that the age of the character should be slightly younger than the actor), Asian, no obvious symptoms, shocked when swimming and drowned, and should be close to 60 years old when he died. Occupation is nurse. Jarin is shaped very tall, I would like to call it the light of human beings on the beach, let's see what he shows: caring about his wife, having a good relationship between husband and wife, not having any dislike or impatience for his wife with epilepsy, and finally thinking about his wife He took the risk of swimming and died because of the medicine; he didn't panic, he was very calm no matter what happened, he was the only one who didn't lose his footing, and he kept analyzing and researching the way out; he was honest and friendly, and he was the first to go back to find rescue. It was only a few minutes before he entered the beach, and he was the first to stand up to block the knife for the black singer and cared about his injury, and none of his births were left behind; humorous, able to communicate with children and joke with his wife; intelligent and rational, all kinds of Brainstorming can always participate, analyze the method to go out, and propose to block the wound with hands to remove the tumor.
Wife Patricia (1976): According to the age of the actor, he was about 45 years old when he went to the beach. He was African-American and suffered from epilepsy. After 8 hours and 17 minutes (16 and a half years), he died of epilepsy. He died in his early 60s. Occupation is a psychiatrist. It was a point to mention before death how pointless arguing with my sister was when I was old.
【Singer and Lover】
Singer Mid-Sized Sedan: The actor's age is unknown, he looks about 30 years old, African-American, suffering from some kind of thrombosis disease, came to the island on vacation to practice meditation, and was finally killed by the doctor. It should be noted that Mid-Sized Sedan is the beach at sunrise that day, not the whole night the day before. The footage in the movie is very clear, and it is at most 3-4 hours earlier than others. It will only take 6-8 years to come down, and it does not seem to be normal. According to his lines, his parents are lawyers and dentists. It can be said that his family environment is good. Suspected and attacked, and finally died of injustice, and also contributed the line "This is the first time they wished they were black", and the role of this role need not be said more.
Lover: The actor's age is unknown. He is probably in his 20s. He suffers from ALS. He drowned due to shock while swimming after not staying at the beach for a while. At the beginning, I sold a wave of welfare, and then used my own body to improve a wave of settings. It belongs to a pure tool person with no name and no lines.
To sum up, we can see that the real subjects of the 73rd batch are only Prisca's tumor, Charles's mental illness, Chrystal's calcium deficiency, Patricia's epilepsy, Mid-Sized Sedan's thrombosis, and Anonymous Woman's ALS. Humans make up half of all people, and only Patricia's epilepsy has succeeded in experiments. It's really not efficient...
3. Foreshadowing
The script of the movie is highly completed, with almost no gossip. Even a casual dialogue often means something, or echoes before and after. Some of them have been mentioned above, and here are some more:
1. At the beginning, the dialogue between the protagonist and his family on the bus to the resort is almost all hints. The mother said: "You will sing better when you grow up", the son asked: "How old can a child be to dive?" Small", the mother added: "Don't be in a hurry, look at the beautiful scenery outside the window" (this sentence can almost be used as the theme of the whole film).
2. Father Guy went to the hotel and said that the resort must be related to WARRENWARREN company, and said that the insurance company he worked for now more and more likes to cooperate with WARRENWARREN company, indicating that WARRENWARREN company is booming.
3. When they first arrived at the resort, the drink served by the beautiful waiter, and after Patricia had an epileptic seizure, the waiter came over and asked if a drink was needed, indicating that the diet of the experimental subjects was "added" during the residence.
4. The driver will ask them if they have locked their passports in the safe. The surface is to care about the safety of their passports, but it is actually to pave the way for the later eradication.
5. At the entrance of the beach, there is a sign of "Natural Reserve" and "Entering will be prosecuted", indicating that WARRENWARREN company has closed all the vicinity of the beach to prevent ordinary people from entering by mistake.
6. Father Guy was very surprised why he sent them a lot of food, saying that it was a bit wasteful. The driver explained that "the child eats a lot, and you have 3 of them". Everyone understands what it means.
7. Trent notices that the water in the beach is different from the outside, there are no fish, indicating that the area is different from the outside world, and echoes the re-emergence of the fish after they finally escaped.
8. Mid-Sized Sedan said the unnamed beauty who came with him "swam far away", hinting at the real cause of her death.
9. Prisca noticed that her daughter had picked up the rusted knife from the sand and told her to throw it away quickly, otherwise she would be cut and infected, echoing her use of the knife to fight back.
10. The lens has many reflections on the opposite cliff. Later we know that those are camera lenses.
4. Reversal
Although the reversal is not the patent of Shyamalan's films, it is his characteristic. Starting from "The Sixth Sense", except for two big productions, his films will have a reverse plot at the end. A good reversal, I personally think, needs to meet the following two conditions:
1. Unexpected, reasonable. It can neither be easily thought of, nor can it be imagined and reversed for the sake of reversal. A successful example is The Sixth Sense.
2. It is necessary to add icing on the cake and not give charcoal in the snow. It may seem contradictory to say this, but for a good reversal ending, the premise must be to remove the reversal immediately, and the front still tells a complete and moving good story. It is impossible to reverse the ending. A negative example is "Mysterious Village".
Going back to this film, for such an ending, I think it's a failure. The concept of "getting old", from the trailer to the title, has been completely spoiled. It's just a gimmick, not a suspense, and the biggest suspense in this film is why these people are sent to the beach, and the resort is behind it. what role. And this suspense is not difficult to guess, because one is that the possibility is limited, it is nothing more than human experiments or perverted powerful people watching the play, and the other is that there are too many clues in the film, even the characters in the play without the perspective of God, The two important core messages of "all the people who come here are sick" and "there are cameras on the opposite side to observe us" have been discovered. The rest is just to pierce the window paper. If you give them some time to think about it, the truth will be right in front of you. . So this ending is not so much a "reversal" as it is a "revelation". Although it satisfies the curiosity of the audience, it feels nothing but dull and boring like magic after the secret is revealed. Without surprises, there will naturally be no good viewing experience, and it is understandable that the vast majority of viewers are disappointed by this ending.
But having said that, this film satisfies the second point I wrote above. Leaving aside the ending, the first half of the film is of good quality and has a high degree of completion. "Old" has a surprise ending like "Mystic Village". If the front part of "Mystic Village" can be as interesting as "Old", I think these two films will have a big improvement.
5. Others
1. Shyamalan is a director that I have always liked. This film still focuses on his characteristics and advantages, including the peculiar camera movement, the strange atmosphere, the perfect setting and a curious yet humane story, which brings A different kind of beauty. If I were to rank some of his low-budget suspense works: The Sixth Sense first, The Undead trilogy, Mystery Village and The Old One, and then "Water Monster", "Visit Horror" and "Omens in the Sky", the worst is of course "Destruction".
2. Shyamalan said that the film was inspired by the epidemic, and the experience on the beach is very similar to the uncertainty of the epidemic and the feeling of being isolated, as well as the fear of infection and death. IMHO, didn't feel it.
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