As an adult, if you could somehow time travel to give your younger self the greatest life-altering advice imaginable, would you do it? Seems like a simple question that could improve your quality of life while only altering the fabric of the universe, itself. That could possibly remove unneeded pain and suffering, but sometimes, the hard-knock life is the only way in which we can truly learn our lessons.
The more you know.
Now, if this scenario was remotely possible, out of all the imaginable topics available to discuss with future knowledge, would you actually take the time to focus all of your efforts on preventing the long-lasting heartache from a relationship that doesn’t end well? Enter Megan Park’s coming-of-age story, My Old Ass.
On her 18th birthday, seeking a new level of consciousness while experimenting with a “super-rare hallucinogenic” and preparing to leave her small maritime town and move to Toronto for school, young Elliott (smartly played by Maisy Stella) takes a trip. Even though she knows she can’t handle strong drugs very well, she watches the immediate reactions of her friends in awe, wondering how they’ll actually kick in, when Older Elliott (Aubrey Plaza) enters the scene.
Elliott’s 39-year-old self has somehow been summoned. Once young Elliott accepts the fact that her physical embodiment is really right next to her, whom she can actually talk to, touch and kiss — and even text! — she eventually realizes this is a good opportunity to gain some knowledge. But will she use it to rework her life or to simply ignore?
Beginning with improving her home life within the immediate family, young Elliott begins to believe that Older Elliott is making a positive change to her life. But when all indications point to preventing a possible relationship with a new boy in her life, whom she’s head over heels for, she gets wary. Must she always learn things the hard way?
“This isn’t going to be the last time you got exactly what you want… and then realize it isn’t what you wanted.”
Small-town life goes under the magnifying glass here, which is something I know very well. Not everybody can become a third-generation cranberry farmer living in a town of 300 and like it. Taking a glimpse into the future isn’t always a bad thing, especially when you’re talking to yourself.
As a long-time fan of Aubrey Plaza, I was crushed to miss this film’s screening at the 2024 Nashville Film Festival. I’ve been excited to watch it ever since I read its logline. The actress is mostly known for her longtime work in indie films, but lately she’s been appearing in quite a few mainstream projects, and her performances have always been a highlight for me, wherever they may appear.
Using blunt humor — Is there any other kind, when dealing with illegal drugs? — her path as young Elliott’s guide proves successful, whenever she’s around. Not knowing “the rules” while hoping to prevent bad karma, she doesn’t want to ruin the many surprises in store for her younger self, but she is intent on making a difference. Young Elliott acts like a hard ass, pretending to know everything there is to know… until she realizes she doesn’t. And then, after the fact, she finally gets it.
“Everyone just turns into their mothers!”
This is literally the right movie I needed to see at the absolutely right time in my life. Funny how that happens, sometimes. We all gotta make our own decisions and live with the consequences in life, regardless if they are right or wrong. Love, death and facing the fact that you can’t always save those whom you’re closest to, whether family or not, is painful to admit. But it’s a natural step in everybody’s life.
When young Elliott made a point to reconnect with her family, it really tugged at my heartstrings, as I could use some improvement of my own. Even though it mostly centered on teenage troubles and worrying about midlife crises through a sci-fi McGufffin, I connected with the story elements, but the movie barely had a chance grow its audience.
This is the kind of mid-budget film that’s no longer shown at movie theaters these days. In fact, My Old Ass only had one weekend of wide release in the U.S. before getting shuffled off to Amazon Prime Video. Going the film festival route may have built up some good word of mouth, but the film truly deserved to be seen by more people before becoming a streaming service advertisement.
“The only thing you can’t get back is time…”
I truly enjoyed My Old Ass, especially the ridiculous Justin Bieber interlude that gets worked into the storyline that somehow makes sense. While it’s easy to debate what I’d truly tell my younger self, if there was ever a possibility, it would probably involve an easy money-making scheme (like in Back to the Future) or building a prototype that would speed the advance of flying vehicles (When will The Jetsons become a reality? It’s 2024 already!).
I doubt it would involve anything remotely close to dodging a romantic relationship. But this storyline was quite effective.
“I just wanted to know what it was like to kiss myself.”