MY OLD ASS |
★★★★☆
7 July 2024
A movie review of MY OLD ASS.
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Director: Megan Park.
Starring: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Maria Dizzia, Alain Goulem, Seth Isaac Johnson, Carter Trozzolo, Alexandria Rivera, Aubrey Plaza.
“Old upset is different to new upset,” Max (Seth Isaac Johnson)
MY OLD ASS opens with a motorboat scene and closes with one. Don’t anticipate a FACE/OFF-style balletic climactic slow-mo carnage sequence, but these moments here are differently satisfying. The whole film is mostly, deeply satisfying (except for the dominance of Caucasian characters – I do not mind so much with rubbish movies, but it hurts with good ones). And MY OLD ASS is a good one. There is a winning mixture of deftly handled laughs, romance, charm, and emotion. Proceedings could have tipped into the annoyingly mawkish. Only the ending voice-over unnecessarily spells out the themes. A small quibble, but writer-director Megan Park should have had more confidence in her audience.
Starring: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Maria Dizzia, Alain Goulem, Seth Isaac Johnson, Carter Trozzolo, Alexandria Rivera, Aubrey Plaza.
“Old upset is different to new upset,” Max (Seth Isaac Johnson)
MY OLD ASS opens with a motorboat scene and closes with one. Don’t anticipate a FACE/OFF-style balletic climactic slow-mo carnage sequence, but these moments here are differently satisfying. The whole film is mostly, deeply satisfying (except for the dominance of Caucasian characters – I do not mind so much with rubbish movies, but it hurts with good ones). And MY OLD ASS is a good one. There is a winning mixture of deftly handled laughs, romance, charm, and emotion. Proceedings could have tipped into the annoyingly mawkish. Only the ending voice-over unnecessarily spells out the themes. A small quibble, but writer-director Megan Park should have had more confidence in her audience.
Elliott (Maisy Stella) is about to go through seismic life changes. One she foresees, several she does not. MY OLD ASS is a coming-of-age flick that packs in the lessons without seeming trite, thanks to a narrative device that veers the story into fantasy. (By the way, one of the producers is Margot Robbie.)
This is the summer holiday before Elliott heads to Toronto for university. She cannot wait to get away. Like so many of us, at any age, Elliott has taken her circumstances for granted. She has grown up in the countryside in an idyll. The sort of locale that is the setting for a TV-movie-of-the-week that has a slightly bigger budget than normal. Imagine a place opposite to the location for a horror movie (though having said that, skilful filmmakers can make any situation scary), that’s how beautifully scenic the audience finds itself in. Elliott belongs to a family of cranberry farmers spanning generations.
Back to the motorboat. While Elliott and her two best buds, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler), are on a trip to an island to take shrooms, her family sit around the dining room table with a cake for her unaware she has no intention of showing up. Elliott ignores calls from her mother (Maria Dizzia). While we have already witnessed Elliott’s wit and energy, this is the other side: selfishness and self-obsession (as all of us (in our youth) can be guilty of). We are willing her to be more caring to her family. Then as the shrooms kick in, her older 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) magically appears. At first, we and Elliott assume Older Elliott is a hallucination, but as the story runs Older Elliott can be contacted via mobile phone and be seen by others.
Elliott wants to know what kissing yourself is like. I hadn’t thought of that, but once in your head the question is there. Not so interested in pervy stuff, Older Elliott gives Elliott guidance and a cryptic warning. Though, no BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II-type sports almanac. The advice gets Elliott to start bonding with her family in an endearing way. At the same time Chad (Percy Hynes White) comes along. What a bro name, but don’t judge a book by its cover. Chemistry and banter abound.
On a side note, it is refreshing to see a North American movie where the family live in a (relatively) modest house. The two younger brothers share a bedroom for instance. Viewers’ connection with proceedings grows as a result.
A film that looks at what home and love is, INSIDE OUT 3 might have already been anticipated by MY OLD ASS.
