Exciting discovery Maisy Stella stars in writer-director Megan Park’s second feature, a poignant coming-of-age tale in which an 18-year-old meets herself, two decades her senior.

It’s always a welcome surprise to encounter a fresh face who’s also a natural screen presence, which is very much the case with the captivating Maisy Stella in My Old Ass. Not to undersell the newcomer’s individuality, but I kept getting a crunchy granola version of Clueless-era Alicia Silverstone, which is no faint praise. The fact that Stella is often bouncing off Aubrey Plaza in peerless sardonic form just sweetens the deal. Megan Park’s enjoyable second feature is a warm blend of comedy, romance and whimsical collapsed-time fantasy, albeit grounded in the protagonist’s real world.

The fantastical part is the result of a mushroom trip, during which Elliott (Stella), who’s turning 18 and is about to head off to college, gulps hallucinogenic tea with her forever friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler). “May you experience a new level of consciousness or some shit tonight,” says Ro, who scored the bag of shrooms from a dubious source, explaining that they come from South America. “Or Africa?”

Much of the initial humor comes from teenage Elliott’s dismay to learn that two decades down the track, she’s single and a PhD student, rather than being married, having multiple children and working at her dream job. Older Elliott is defensive about where she’s at, but in between subtle digs at youthful naïveté, she tells her junior alter ego, “The only thing you can’t get back is time.” She also warns her to stay away from guys named Chad. Young Elliott just thinks she’s having a bad trip.

Elliott is beyond ready to leave her lakeside home in Muskoka, Ontario, anxious to move to Toronto and get her life started. “I can’t be a third-generation cranberry farmer in a tiny town!” She’s also only ever been attracted to women, as demonstrated by her hot farewell fling with local barista Chelsea (Alexandra River). So when a Toronto undergrad working on her family’s farm for the summer named — drumroll — Chad (Percy Hynes White) saunters into her world and Elliott finds herself irritated by and attracted to him in equal measure, she’s confused.

“Am I bi?” she wonders. Nonbinary Ro’s take: “Just because you like a man doesn’t make you any less queer. I don’t think any less of you.”

Following the much darker grief drama The Fallout, a prize winner at SXSW, actress-turned-director Park shows an agreeably light touch here that serves the material well.

Just to make Elliott’s muddled feelings weirder, she finds the name “My Old Ass” listed in her phone contacts with a number and discovers she can just dial up her older self for advice. What she gets is sterner anti-Chad caution — though Older Elliott won’t say why he’s off-limits — and a nudge to make time for her family. It’s in those scenes that the movie navigates a supple shift into poignancy, especially in Elliott’s gorgeous conversations with her mother (Maria Dizzia).

Her younger brothers each bring their own comic energy. Preteen Spencer (Carter Trozzolo) is infatuated with Saoirse Ronan, which prompts a priceless sight gag, while high schooler Max (Seth Isaac Johnson) is indifferent to his sister, believing he’s everything she hates. Elliott’s efforts to bond with prickly Max on the golf course disclose alarming news about a major family decision of which she was unaware. Her dad (Al Goulem) says they tried to tell her, but it’s always hard to pin her down.