My Old Ass (2024)
★★★
This review may contain spoilers.
great stuff here, concept is really great I only wish they explored it further, took it to it's extremes for how short this thing is, they really try and explore as much as they can and that is immensely respectable, Megan Park is someone I will be keeping my eye on both writing wise and directing wise because the things that are explore here while simplistic at first, if explored in a deeper manner, this would create one hell of a feature.
the writing is really great in places, the concept is really cool, even though it's been done before the way it is explore here is pretty unique, the character work is pretty great for Elliott and Chad and Max, which are the strongest characters here, there are some pretty great scenes here with some great writing but it's when they are placed in the larger concept of the story that I have a bit of issues here and there with how they are built up or how we lead into them, you can tell when we are exploring something deeper just by how it's framed, the location how much slower it feels comparatives to the rest of the scenes, all the scenes where the characters are wax philosophic or talking about some deep life stuff are super quick but then slow way down when we need to have these more serious chats, which kind of holds the pacing back where you feel like you have moved super quick IMO.
the score is really nice at the beginning of the film and turns kind of basic towards the sappier moments in the film, the whimsical score that played during the tractor scene early on vs the basic piano in the emotional scenes.
the acting Maisy Stella is the stand out for me, the things that she is doing here are wonderful, some with Aubrey Plaza doing some great acting towards the end of the film, there are strengths and there are weaknesses in the performances for other characters and even for these characters but when they are at there A game in a scene where the intent is to convey emotion and portray heart, it is doing it's job well.
notes below
-----------------------
- talking about moving on with your life, getting things rolling, moving forward even though you should be focused on the present.
- like the lighting of the campfire.
- that sweater that Aubrey Plaza is wearing in this campfire scene looks very cozy.
- cool to contrast this bit with Older Elliott with Younger Elliott much earlier who seemed so ready for life to being,
- the silence that radiates this scene as we linger on older Elliott is pretty amazing.
- we were at a pretty quick and fast pace with the montage and establishing the friendship that we slowed dramatically.
- I love the musical track when she is riding the tractor, that is so nice.
- the score for the film is actually really nice.
- um Justin Bieber?
- I feel like we could use an extra 20 to 30 minutes in the film at the front to help these later scenes feel a bit more impactful? like the pay off with Mom needs a bit more time to develop, younger brother and dad barely get screen time and development
- some impressive beautiful wide shots near the end of the film.
- this is such an intriguing concept that I wish got a bit more time dedicated to it, this thought of the older version of herself trying to prevent herself from making the biggest mistake of her life, trying to prevent all the hurt that she has gone through throughout her adult life but realizing that ultimately she needs to go through this hurt.
