What if your older self could go back and tell your younger self what to look out for, what comes next, and what to avoid? That’s the simple concept of My Old Ass: helping your young ass out.
18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella—a near-dead ringer for Florence Pugh—in a breakout performance) is just three weeks from leaving her parents’ bucolic cranberry farm in a town of three hundred to attend college at the University of Toronto—and she can’t wait to get out. In her desire to fill her time before she leaves, she’s aloof towards her parents and brothers, instead choosing to distract herself by taking her motorboat out on the lake, hooking up with a pretty local shop worker, and on one fateful evening, heading out to a small island on the lake and sharing shrooms with her friends. Elliott’s trip doesn’t take her to psychedelic places. Instead, it conjures forward her 39-year-old self in the form of Aubrey Plaza. If you like Plaza’s quirks and mannerisms, you will find them on full display here, but a tinge of weariness and sadness goes along with that tart-witted tongue of hers–a hint that pays off in a surprisingly moving fashion later in the film.
The two have a very amusing conversation. The dialogue is comedic and intelligent, and Stella hangs with Plaza line for line. Of course, the younger Elliott has a lot of questions; some the older Elliott answers directly, and others she answers obliquely. Older Elliott wants to give some guidance, but she doesn’t want to spoil all the surprises to come. One thing she does make clear before she leaves young Elliott is one particular thing to avoid, no matter what.
Elliott wakes the next day and remembers everything. She finds a new contact in her phone: My Old Ass. Plaza is not seen again until the end of the film, but due to the light sci-fi nature of the film, they can talk and text by phone. Young Elliott takes in some of old Elliott’s advice and wisdom (my favorite bit being as you get older you care less about what people think of you). She spends more time with her family; she appreciates the farm and the lake she was so eager to leave. She also meets a sweet young man working the cranberry farm named Chad (Percy Hynes White, who gives a very natural performance).
Elliott has always thought of herself as “gay,” but she’s drawn to Chad, even as she tries not to be. Writer/director Megan Park navigates this space with admirable finesse. It’s not that Elliott suddenly becomes straight; she doesn’t. She still likes girls. She just happens to like Chad, too. Elliott’s awakening does not involve denying her true self but realizing there’s more to her true self than she knew.
Over those final three weeks on the farm, other revelations come forward. No fair telling with a movie so new, but what My Old Ass does is show you how a very short period of time can be life-changing. In the last episode of the American version of The Office, there’s a line spoken by Ed Helms that says, “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you left them.” Young Elliott is given a sense of that awareness, which comes with a bittersweetness.
During a significant four-day stretch, Old Elliott stops responding to texts and calls by young Elliott. Young Elliott is left to make her own decisions, all alone. In that half-week, young Elliott does not avoid that one thing old Elliott told her to. As young Elliott’s time on the farm is about to end, old Elliott reappears. As young Elliott informs old Elliott that she did not practice that advised avoidance, the film turns from bittersweet to tragic as old Elliott reveals a source of great future pain to both of them.
As old Elliott and young Elliott argue over what to do next (because the future can still be changed), young Elliott is faced with a choice. If she takes the road old Elliott suggests, she can avoid what will likely be the greatest heartache of her future life. What the film asks at that moment is something much greater than the personal. It’s the universal question of how much can we protect ourselves. Can we avoid risk and still experience true joy? I think we all know the answer to that question if we are out of our teen years, but that’s a tougher ask of an 18-year-old who is now in the know.
The two actors are brilliant, navigating the twists and turns in their back and forth. Stella once again matches Plaza during this pivotal scene. Those hints of old Elliott’s sadness manifest in that sequence, and all of Plaza’s fabled ironic stylings melt away, leaving an exposed broken heart. Rarely has Plaza been so vulnerable on screen, and it’s really something to see.
My Old Ass is an authentic “family film.” Where the teens curse, have sex, experiment with drugs, and reach that awkward moment between adulthood and childhood. The film asks questions about sexual identity, how you leave home, and how you will choose to live your life. The extra layer of knowing some of what’s coming adds a level of drama and somberness that is entirely unexpected.
My Old Ass isn’t the kind of movie that makes a mint at the box office or in streaming revenue and is unlikely to win or be nominated for many awards. But it is the kind of little gem that you’ll watch, and maybe years late,r you’ll be at a party or some get-together, and you’ll find that a friend or a stranger has seen My Old Ass too. And then you’ll spend 15-20 minutes talking about it and realize it meant more to you than you knew.
My Old Ass is about the good old days, knowing that you’re in them, and that you won’t be for long.
My Old Ass is streaming now on Amazon Prime
