My Old Ass | Film Review

-

On her 18th birthday, Elliott (Maisy Stella) goes on a mushroom trip that connects her with her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). But when her older self starts giving her warnings and advice, Elliott has to decide which version of herself should control her future.

I was looking forward to this film. Not just because I usually enjoy Aubrey Plaza’s performances, but because the premise for the film was so original, and so fun! 

Unfortunately I ended up being disappointed with this one.

But let’s start with the good things!

I’ve already mentioned that the premise is original, and the entire film is very original.

It’s also written really well, particularly the dialogue, which is really important for a film like this that is entirely character driven.

Plaza and Stella work really really well together, and I’d love to see them together in another film.

In fact, a pitfall of the film was not having these characters together more. Plaza isn’t in the film for nearly as long as she should be, and given the best parts of the film are when the characters are together, this should have happened much more.

The film is incredibly dialogue-heavy, as well as being character driven. So if you don’t love the characters then you might not love the film. And I think this was my fundamental problem with it – I didn’t love any of the characters. And for a film like this to work, you kind of need to.

Once the characters understood what was happening, things got a little bit boring, in that not much happened and the things that did happen weren’t that interesting.

But the film takes a turn when it reveals something, and that reveal and how the film ended added a star for me. It was a shame that we had to wade through a lot of nothing to get to something of real substance. This reveal was heartfelt, emotional and endeared me more to both of the characters.

Overall, this one wasn’t as good as it could have been, considering both the premise and how it ended. So I’m a bit disappointed with it all in all.

5/10

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comment xx

Popular Posts

Nickel Boys | Film Review

-
Image
  Elwood (Ethan Herisse) has a promising future when he is sentenced to brutal reformatory Nickel Academy. Once there he meets Turner (Brandon Wilson) and forms a friendship that becomes essential to his survival. This is one of the Best Picture nominees that I knew the least about, so because of that, it was also one of the ones that I went into with the least context. I loved this film. I was immediately gripped just by the unique way it was shot. From what I've seen online the first person pov is a bit hit or miss, but it really hit for me. It was so creative and interesting, and immediately allowed me to build a connection with the characters. It also made everything that happened much more powerful, being able to live in this world through Elwood and Turner's eyes was really impactful. The film was really reminiscent of the film 'Sleepers', not just in terms of the subject matter, but in the way it creates fear and tension, and how these feelings are passed on to t...
Read more

Sing Sing | Film Review

-
Image
  While imprisoned at Sing Sing Correctional Facility for a crime he didn't commit, Divine G (Colman Domingo) finds his purpose while putting on a comedy show with a group of other incarcerated men. This is a film I hadn't heard much about until it was nominated for an Oscar, but once it was I looked it up and was definitely interested in seeing it. I liked this film a lot. The group of characters was really interesting. They were all unique, fascinating to watch and wholly authentic. I knew before starting the film that a lot of the actors played themselves, as they were men that were formally incarcerated. But once I got into the film, I kind of forgot this. They felt like actors doing an amazing job of creating authenticity for these characters, so the fact that this was so real, and so close to them, just made the film a real experience to watch. It was also shot really authentically in the sense that it felt like a documentary. It never felt like the actors were on a '...
Read more

A Real Pain | Film Review

-
Image
  Cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) tour Poland in honour of their grandmother, but as they explore their family history, they are forced to confront their complicated relationship. This was one of the films of Oscar season that I was most looking forward to seeing. I really liked the premise and had heard really good things. I really liked this movie. For a start, it was clear from the first 15 minutes why this film has been nominated for a screenplay Oscar. The film is written so well, captures and evokes so many complex emotions and really makes the audience pay attention to the characters. Speaking of which, I loved both of the characters almost instantly. They're so different, and their interactions are what the film is pretty much centred on, and why it works so well. The balance of comedy/humour and drama is done really well, which is down to the writing, direction and acting. I didn't know until the credits rolled that Eisenberg wrote and directe...
Read more

I'm Still Here | Film Review

-
Image
  Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) tries to keep her family together while piecing together the truth behind her husband Rubens' (Selton Mello) disappearance. This was the last Best Picture nominee I needed to see, so I went to see it without looking up what it was about, only knowing what it was nominated for and the fact that the acting was being very highly praised. I liked this film. The premise of it kind of took me by surprise. Because I didn't know what it was about I was locked in from the beginning to see where it would go. It was really engaging. The performances really were great. Torres is nominated for her performance and I'm glad because she did an amazing job with this character. Eunice is the heart of the film and the audience needs to be able to connect with her emotionally to truly care about this family, and it's really easy to do so. One of the best things about Torres' performance is her chemistry with Mello. The film did a really great job of sho...
Read more

The Blogger Recognition Award!

-
Image
Hey Guys x First of all, you'll notice that I've kind of been messing around with my blog design - let me know what you think of it! And, if anyone knows a way to change the colour of your blog footer (aka, the pink section at the bottom of the page!) then please please comment or email me because it's bugging me and I really can't work out how to change it! I was nominated for the 'Blogger Recognition Award' by the amazing HALE , go check out their blog because it's amazing. Thank you so much for nominating me, I really appreciate it! And I also used the same picture that you used, I hope you don't mind! The Rules: 1) Write a post to show your award 2) Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you 3) Give a brief story about why you started blogging 4) Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers. 5) Nominate 15 other bloggers/blogs for the award Why I Started Blogging I've probably talked about this before, but I started ...
Read more