My Old Ass         4 stars

Did you ever think about what you would tell your younger self about making choices in your life, having learned from life experience? This is literally the premise behind My Old Ass which first appeared at the Sundance Film Festival last year (2024). Elliott (Maisy Stella) is a more or less normal 18-year-old girl living on the family cranberry farm in Canada with her parents and two brothers. She has a couple of best friends she hangs out with and is about to go off to college the following fall. One night she is visited by a strange woman who claims to be her older 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Recreation) who willingly came here to see young Elliott. There isn’t any science fiction type of explanation for this time traveling event. And there isn’t any catastrophic event in the future that must be prevented. The explanation for the unexpected visit is more fantasy-like as young Elliott drank some tea with hallucinogenic mushrooms and suddenly, there appeared older Elliott. The initial conversations between the two Elliott’s seemed silly and juvenile to me but later became more interesting. Older Elliott is there to tell her younger self of the importance of family and that she should try to spend more time with her mother and even her brother who she thinks doesn’t want to be seen with her. Young Elliott is full of anxiety and self-doubt like a lot of teenagers, but goes along with this new relationship, which can continue over the phone because apparently phone calls can be made across time. But older Elliott has a special warning for her too, and that is to stay away from Chad, who young Elliott has never heard of before. Later, when young Elliott is taking a dip at the swimming hole, what happens but a boy shows up who has started working on the family farm, and his name happens to be Chad. And so, starts the mystery of what is this guy all about and what is so dangerous about him. The young actress, Maisy Stella, who is new to movies gives a real genuine performance as Elliott making her seem like a confused teen who is just trying to figure things out. Plaza gives her usual understated performance but makes you believe there is something profound going on in her mind beneath the surface. The movie is written and directed by the actress Megan Park and is her second effort at directing. Earlier she made The Fallout. Some viewers will remember her as Grace from The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I found the movie to be well written as it alternates from goofiness to important statements about life and how to treat those we love. The movie was a hit at Sundance and now I can see it is well deserved both for the acting and writing.