When Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal first heard the pitch for Old, he was sold.
“It’s a very appealing premise,” The Motorcycle Diaries star tells The National. “I was very obviously into it.”
And who wouldn’t be? After all, this is the latest thriller from M Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Adapted from the French graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, a brilliant – and disconcerting – high concept forms the core of this unsettling tale. Think The Twilight Zone crossed with The Beach and you’re somewhere close to this eerie effort.
Bernal plays Guy, a family man who travels to a luxury resort with his wife (Vicky Krieps) and two young children. But when they, and some other hotel guests, journey to a secluded cove, strange things start to happen. If they try to leave, they black out. And then comes the real twist: they are now ageing so rapidly, that every half hour that passes is the equivalent of a year.
By coincidence, Bernal, 42, who rose to fame in films including Amores Perros, had just watched Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel. The 1962 Surrealist masterpiece is centred on a bourgeois dinner party where the guests suddenly find they can’t leave.
“It reminded me of this and other films that establish a kind of limitation or impossibility and you have to work around it," he says, comparing the shoot to a mad experiment in a laboratory. “How are we going to tell the story?”
It’s a salient point. As Bernal points out: “The concept of time is something that we have so engraved in our lives that all of a sudden accelerating [it] ... it is mind-blowing. What would the characters do in this situation?”
How would Bernal react if he was trapped in this supernatural horror show? “I don’t know. I guess that’s something ... it’s a question that I can have a different answer for at every moment. It’s very difficult to put oneself into that kind of mindset.”
There were no cellphones on the beach where we were shooting. So it was pretty nice to be out there, without having to be connected all the time
Gael Garcia Bernal,
actor
As characters start to age and wrinkle – one even has a tumour grow to the size of a grapefruit in a matter of minutes – Bernal points to the film’s “mythical setting” as fundamental. With the surrounding cliffs akin to a proscenium arch and the ocean forming the scenic backdrop, the beach was their stage. “It’s kind of a theatrical experience,” he says. It’s not hard to see that Bernal, who has directed two feature films and an episode of Mozart in the Jungle, the Amazon original series he also stars in, is a filmmaker at heart.
Old was shot 12 months ago in the Dominican Republic, amid the pandemic, with the entire cast and crew taking over an empty hotel and forming a Covid-19-safe bubble. No masks or even shoes – they were barefoot throughout – required, it was somewhat an escape from the horrors the world has been facing.
“There were no cellphones on the beach where we were shooting. So it was pretty nice to be out there, without having to be connected all the time.”
Bernal, who was born in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, admits it was the perfect chance to commune with Mother Nature – a theme the film explores.
“I enjoy being in nature and feeling connected to it. I mean, I think we all do in a way; we all kind of get something out of it and we reset. Or rather, we feel like we escape back to who we are. And then we go back to this kind of life that we live in.”
As we chat over Zoom – isolated from one another – he says: “The extreme opposite would be this interaction that we’re having right now, which has nothing to do with nature.”
For Bernal, popping up in a Shyamalan blockbuster is a little unusual in a career that’s instead paired him with auteurs such as Pedro Almodovar (Bad Education) and Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu Mama Tambien). But he’s just as excited by a Hollywood project as an art house one.
“It’s an interesting adventure also, because at the same time, I never expect the results. I hope that they’re good, of course, but you never know. I think that’s more or less the way that I kind of decide which ones to do.”
Bernal’s other recent English-language project is the coming TV series Station Eleven, alongside Himesh Patel and Mackenzie Davis. It tells the story of a group of survivors whose lives are destroyed by a devastating flu pandemic. Bernal can’t quite express how bizarre it was to be working on the show as the coronavirus pandemic began to escalate.
“It’s just one of those things … it was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy that we’re doing this.’ We actually got interrupted because of the pandemic.”
No wonder he loves acting so much – it simply never gets old.
Old is in UAE cinemas from Thursday, August 12
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Fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit
As he spoke, Mr Aboul Gheit repeatedly referred to the need to tackle issues affecting the welfare of people across the region both in terms of preventing conflict and in pushing development.
Lebanon is scheduled to host the fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in January that will see regional leaders gather to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East. The last such summit was held in 2013. Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki told The National that the Beirut Summit “will be an opportunity for Arab leaders to discuss solely economic and social issues, the conference will not focus on political concerns such as Palestine, Syria or Libya". He added that its slogan will be “the individual is at the heart of development”, adding that it will focus on all elements of human capital.
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mountain%20Boy
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UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
'Midnights'
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Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) US$175,000 1,000m
7.05pm: Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions (Dirt) $100,000 1,900m
7.40pm: Al Rashidiya Group 2 (T) $250,000 1,800m
8.15pm: Handicap (D) $135,000 2,000m
8.50pm: Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (T) $250,000 1,400m
9.25pm: Handicap (T) $135,000 2,410m.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
