Park’s double fantasy: ‘My Old Ass’

Cinema | October 7th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

“My Old Ass,” the title of Megan Park’s sophomore feature, probably didn’t do the movie any favors at the box office, but it is as spiky and forward as protagonist Elliott, an 18-year-old caught between adolescence and adulthood. Currently finishing up a theatrical run following a world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Park’s movie is a bittersweet coming of age tale that blends romance, melodrama, and even a touch of science fiction and/or fantasy and magical realism against the gorgeous scenic backdrop of Ontario’s Muskoka Lakes.

Elliott is principally portrayed by a thoroughly winning Maisy Stella, but in the film’s conceptual centerpiece, the 39-year-old version of the character shows up during a psychedelic mushroom trip to offer advice to the younger person who has yet to experience two decades of life lessons already known to the magical visitor. Aubrey Plaza may not initially seem to be a good counterpart for a down-the-road Stella, but Park encourages a free-spirited insouciance that plays to the strengths of both actors. The director also carefully meters the amount of screen time in which the two Elliotts interact, a shrewd choice that intensifies each of the scenes in which Plaza appears.

From many corners of the internet, we frequently encounter some variation on the theme of being kind to your younger self or listening to the advice we wish we could have given to our younger selves. Park transforms the essence of those self-affirmations into a larger lesson about appreciating the love and support of your family (should you be fortunate enough to have what Elliott has) and not being in such a hurry to move to the big city. Those are not exactly surprising pearls of wisdom, but Park builds a key conflict around Older Elliott’s plea to steer clear of anyone bearing the name Chad. Naturally, Younger Elliott will have her hands full when she encounters a beautiful young thing with that name.

Regular moviegoers and readers of YA fiction will be able to guess the reason Older Elliott warns her young self away from the heavenly suitor (played with easygoing chill by Percy Hynes White), but Park’s deep investment in character and in the development of the movie’s core romantic relationship gives viewers everything they need to ignore Older Elliott. Park throws in an additional twist that works within the specific world built for these inhabitants: Elliott sees herself as gay and until Chad has been only in same-sex relationships. Her feelings for Chad cause her to question a part of herself about which she was previously so certain.

For a pretty relaxed movie about a family that farms cranberries next to a stunning lake with postcard views, Park might have given Elliott’s pals Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) and Ro (Kerrice Brooks) — not to mention Elliott’s family members — just a bit more to do, but it is hard to fault the filmmaker for staying in her main character’s groove. Older Elliott says at one point, “The only thing you can’t get back is time,” and an equally apt saying that can be applied to the film is “There is no day but today.” Park’s movie deserves to find its audience, which should be composed of viewers of several different generations.

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