Reviewing my handwritten notes from before the Provincetown International Film Festival, I see “My Old Ass” with a line drawn through it and the comment, “Skip It.” I am so glad I decided not to skip it. This sleeper was one of the highlights of the festival for me.
A Canadian film produced by Margot Robbie for Sundance, it begins as a youthful lesbian romp, a genre I have come to enjoy for its exuberance and risk taking and for the very fact of its existence. Gradually, the movie deepens into much more, leaving the audience moved to tears.
The film opens with Elliott (Maisy Stella) and her 2 “besties” boating to an island on her 18th birthday to celebrate by camping out and eating mushrooms, and what a long, strange trip it is. The friends “get off” before she does, and as she sits wondering when it will kick in, a strange woman appears. Long story short, the woman turns out to be Elliot herself at 39 years old. A vision from the future, played by Aubrey Plaza, she declines all of Elliot’s wishes to learn more about what’s coming for her, with the exception of one:
“Stay away from Chad.”
Leaving her with the admonition to run in the other direction if she meets a boy named Chad, she somehow manages to maintain cellphone contact with her younger self. Elliott, who is later seen making love in her boat with a teenage woman she gets high and hooks up with, tries not to worry about the Chad warning, since she has been attracted only to young women thus far in her life.
Then she meets Chad. And he is adorable, kind, and endearing, clearly interested in her, and seemingly flawless. She finds herself enjoying his company and trying to reach her older self (her “old ass”) by phone, to no avail. Before she can learn what the warning is all about, she is falling in love with Chad.
Normally I would not be applauding a young lesbian falling in love with a dude, but the emotional intelligence with which relationships are handled in this movie is remarkable, and so I offer no more spoilers and just urge you to see it for yourself. Kudos to the director, Megan Park, and the cast and the beauty Lake County in Canada.
Review: Janet ProlmanJanet Prolman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where her mother nicknamed her “my little queer.” She has also lived in North Carolina and New York. A lover of short stories, theater, music, and performance, she knows the lyrics to almost every song or advertising jingle she’s ever heard. Now on Cape Cod, she enjoys kayaking and frequenting Provincetown.
Labels: 2024, Janet Prolman, Maisy Stella, Margot Robbie, Megan Park, My Old Ass, review
