I always thought it might work: Young humans are given guidance from their future selves who were thankfully there when they needed the help the most. I learned that you gain perspective, and life gets a bit wacky, which sounds positively amusing!
It’s clear that Megan Park has successfully turned this narrative into something unique. This is not exactly a Switch or 30-year-old baby authorities, and yet the Frozen documentary is quite the novelty. And honestly, after watching the amazing ‘My Old Ass,’ I can’t help but think what a wonderful time it is to be alive.
Park’s new film has left us expecting a drama addressing sensitive topics and showing strong female protagonists, which is a welcome sight after her previous work.
However, her blood-tingling knowledge of the linguistic aspect of young people and her emotional tie with her characters are still quite intact. To her credit, Park does not adopt the childish approach of explaining the mechanics of how she and her two lead actresses are able to cross generations – it never crosses your mind to ask because their chemistry is simply infectious. All the people want to do is focus on them and time, which seems to be a luxury in these parts, is very much of the essence.
In this film, the rather vulgarized 18-year-old Elliott is played by Maisy Stella, who is nothing short of a star. Canadian singer-actress Maisy Stella was surely familiar to those who watched “Nashville”, but it is this performance that will make people take notice of her. After that, in years to come, people will be looking back at how someone’s sparkling career started with some remarkable seeds. Maisy Stella is a captivating actress with an impressive comedic touch and certainly more than adequate dramatic abilities. What a thrilling first time feature film performance for the girl!
Aubrey Plaza has often portrayed her ability to make us laugh, but it’s very charming to witness the play roles that help her go beyond being strictly comical as well as unveil other aspects of her artistry as seen in “Emily The Criminal” and “Ingrid Goes West“. This here is 39-year-old Elliott in the film – or another sexily dressed Plaza – the age which she very adamantly claims is not middle-aged. Elliott is warmly bathed in the presence of her two best friends while on a magic mushroom journey. It is amusing that Plaza looks nothing like Stella, who was supposed to play her role, but they both possess the same dry sense of humor. Plaza’s deadpan is undercut with Stella\’s bubbly personality so you can fairly quickly see how these two are exactly the same in this drunk kind of atmosphere.
This is the end of summer, the last few weeks before college at the University of Toronto for Elliott and she decides to have an evening in the woods with close friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler, who co-stars in Park’s “The Fallout”). Elliott takes a casual drinks some hallucinogenic tea and finds herself face-to-face with her older self on a beautiful starry night during the night.
Elliott poses some of the types of questions that one would ask a version of themselves who is 20 years older. But Elder Elliott is able to exercise restraint and leave some things to the imagination. Still, she does give this one crucial caution: Stay clear of any man named Chad.
What a coincidence! Chad (Percy Hynes White) is a charming summer intern on her family’s cranberry farm in Ontario. Elliott tries to dodge him but ultimately cannot help but develop feelings for him. This annoys her for several reasons. To begin with, her older self advises her to stay away from Chads: any Chads. For the longest time, Elliott thought she was a lesbian, and now, this new desire makes her question if her sexuality is as fixed as she thought it was.
Half the time, Elder Elliott does not reveal herself to her younger self. After all, she did put her number in her younger self’s phone so she could reach her after that fateful phone call.
(The two will join in your joyous thunder as they realize this little experiment worked.) But of course, Elliott must also work through some issues herself as she stands on the verge of becoming an adult, such as how to deal with her young siblings (Seth Isaac Johnson and Carter Trozzolo, both wittily illustrated) and how to focus more on her mother (Maria Dizzia, always the subtle but noteworthy contributor).
In addition to creating characters that are realistic in their interactions, Park, too, has a great sense of place. The event that takes them back to the comforting setting of my old ass leaves a great deal to be set on the idyllic lakes surrounding the family’s farm. Thunderstorms heavy with meaning roll in after shimmering golden afternoons on the lake. (Cinematographer Kristen Correll maintains a lilting romantic undertone throughout the film.) The explorations and the all-deserving silence feel narrow and intimate, but there is a pressing frame of Elliott’s journey in this point of time which adds that extra layer of emotion to the film.
This combination of tragedy and optimism along with humor is often hard to portray. And the more she pulls back from the covers of her characters, the more movement and elements of curiosity they become. This especially pertains to Plaza’s Older Elliott, who leaves quite an impression in the few scenes she appears.
While younger Elliott might not have come of age with the vast resources available to her today, at the very least she is gaining confidence in her ability to query openly.
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