With three weeks left before she leaves for university in Toronto, 18-year-old Elliott Labrant encounters her 39-year-old self while on a mushroom trip in the forest surrounding her family’s Muskoka Lakes cranberry farm. Directed by Megan Park in her sophomore feature, My Old Ass stars Maisy Stella in her feature film debut and Aubrey Plaza.
Eager to escape farm life, Elliott (Maisy Stella) intends to spend the last three weeks of summer boating around the lakes with her friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler), spending time with her crush Chelsea (Alexandria Rivera), and preparing for life in Toronto. To celebrate her 18th birthday, Ro, Ruthie and Elliott camp in the woods and drink mushroom tea.
As the drugs kick in, an older woman appears beside Elliott claiming to be her at age 39. Though sceptical at first, the two quickly bond with Older Elliott (Aubrey Plaza) giving her younger self advice and encouraging her to bond with her family and giving her a vague warning to stay away from someone named Chad. As they fall asleep in their tent, the Older Elliott puts her number in Young Elliott’s phone, allowing them to stay in contact with each other across time.
As they continue to text and call each other, Young Elliott works to follow Older Elliott’s advice, spending time with her younger brothers Spencer (Carter Trozzolo) and Max (Seth Isaac Johnson) in an effort to repair their somewhat frayed connections. As she spends more time with her brothers and parents, Elliott learns that she had inadvertently distanced herself from them, using her self-adopted role of the “woke queer” child to distinguish herself from her somewhat average family. With Older Elliott’s guidance in her ear, Young Elliott comes to terms with the fact that she is more vulnerable than she wanted to believe.
Maisy Stella is magnetic in her first feature role, perfectly exuding the attitude of a self-assured yet totally naive teenager. Her delivery is dry but not without emotion, something castmate Aubrey Plaza is also known for. Despite their differences in appearance, the notion that they are the same person does not feel inconceivable as they move totally in step with each other, matching one another’s sarcastic energy and acerbic wit.
Where Stella embodies the carefree teenage Elliott, Plaza’s slightly more solemn approach as Older Elliot gives the film a beautiful balance. It’s clear that Older Elliott has lived through some hard experiences and wants so badly to protect her younger self from having to go through the same pain. Plaza is suitably funny and expertly navigates the small pockets where she is required to reach in and wring out the tough emotions, sobering Young Elliott’s dramatics.
As a coming-of-age film, My Old Ass explores all the standard themes of young adulthood like relationships, family, sexuality, and sense of self. When Elliott learns that things at home are beginning to change, she is confronted with the realisation that her family’s lives will continue to move independently of hers once she is gone.
A proud and out lesbian, Elliott also learns that her sexuality might be more fluid than she previously thought when she meets the forewarned-against Chad and their relationship travels quickly from uncertainty to friendship then to love. Many films with similar LGBTQIA+ themes often travel the path of a teen or adult discovering that they’re queer after years of believing otherwise with films like 2018’s Alex Strangelove and Brokeback Mountain coming to mind. However, My Old Ass delicately breaks that mould, asserting that sexuality is ever-changing.
Through the use of two Elliott’s at vastly different life stages, My Old Ass is also a beautiful reminder that life requires balance. While Older Elliott teaches Younger Elliott to be more appreciative of her life as it is, reminding her that her home life is no less worthy of living just because it lacks adventure. In turn, Older Elliott also learns that adulthood still requires a childlike sense of wonder and invulnerability – that without it, we forget to live at all.
For a relatively new filmmaker, Megan Park has created a beautifully unique story with My Old Ass. Her heartfelt and sincere approach to storytelling results in a film that stays with you well after the credits roll.
My Old Ass is available to watch now on Prime Video.