Father Time comes for us all in different degrees. Now one sees countless ads for wrinkle creams, hair colouring, replacements or surgeries linked to boosting confidence. The most offensive is getting children as young as twelve to use skin rejuvenation products. Anubys Lopez’s film Aged (2023) takes a huge page of countless films where glands are harvested and injected more strongly. The film uses motifs of Countess Dracula (1971) and Cocoon (1985) to bring terror to the onset of gray hairs and fading memories. More importantly, it is what family members would do to make sure the clock is forcibly turned back.
Aged (2023) is oddly constructed and misdirected in places with some poor direction missing key plot moments. Bright scenes of rural landscapes and a meeting in an antiseptic stilted coffee shop with Charles Bloom (Dave McClain), meeting with Veronica Grey (Morgan Boss-Maltais) to interview as a caregiver for his ailing mother. Charles has cared for his mother, who is suffering from dementia, and now things are more difficult. The dialogue is short, cutting lines, and pauses especially with Charles with sounds of slurping beverages making the scene seem oppressive. Not a lot to grab onto here for the roles of these people. Veronica accepts the work as temporary. She then must provide a cover story for her worried mother and off she goes home.
The soundtrack of lovely Al Jolson tunes and other music from the twenties and even Ava Maria adds an interesting touch of being smothered in lace doilies and lavender. Veronica’s arrival finds the gardener, Joe (Adonis Ringo), face in blank fear as he cut himself with shears. Veronica heads into the house for lunch and meeting Mrs. Bloom (Carla Kidd) who kindly interrogates her. Veronica finds photos with faces scratched out. Mrs. Bloom is unfriendly as some old people are when a stranger comes into their home, says she is fine and not that bad as her son makes her out to be. The dialogue is so stilted again with empty tones perhaps indicating the oppressive nature of the home, yet it succeeds in slowing down events. If you are going to build a role there must be a role to build.
Lunch brings apart the pious revelation as Mrs. Bloom gets to know Veronica better: where she’s from, her upbringing, and finding out her new caregiver gave up her Catholic faith. What follows is a strange mix of body horror, illness and haunting that meshes horrendously. Performances again woodenly delivered. The domination of the home and the nefarious purpose takes it toll all as one sees hallucinations and dead people that haunt the rooms and the phone line. Veronica wakes up with bruising on her arms each evening and begins to doubt her sanity. The most startling moment is an incident of elder abuse by Veronica which should have been a crescendo to a scene, yet it seems to be just a moment to be glossed over. The most compelling are those instances in which Veronica sinks deeper into a personality change and some physical changes. The result is a regeneration and a regretful new lease on life for Mrs. Bloom.
Aged (2023) has wonderful Cocoon-like themes yet the first part of the picture is marred by odd shot selection in the lunch scene the cuts are so slow, and the lines are some empty of emotion and monotone that you wonder if you are with the living dead. The story is about the people and the home atmosphere which is missed greatly in that moment. The home itself is lovely with woods, paintings, old furniture, and music oddly not from a Victrola but from a long-playing record.
Aged (2023) suffers from pacing and some development of the roles. There is a ninety-minute strong film here without adding jump scares and traditional tropes when the home becomes the evil such as in The Haunting (1963), The Innocents (1961) and the opening moments of Roger Corman’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher (1960) and others. The trip could have been a lot better with a punch in the actor’s tone, some night scenes and without those Harold Pinter’s pauses.
Aged is out now on Digital Platforms including Tubi and Amazon Prime Video in the UK and USA
