MIFF 2023 Film Review - I Used to Be Funny

Images courtesy of Common State.

Gentle, funny, and incredibly vulnerable, Ally Pankiw’s I Used To Be Funny is an unflinching look at the complexities and inconsistencies that accompany trauma recovery.

Rachel Sennott delivers an honest and aching portrayal of a stand-up comedian and nanny recovering from a life-altering event. The film follows Sam in the aftermath of the fallout, where she is in the throes of depression and PTSD, fending off painful flashbacks and reminders that lurk around every corner she turns.

As both a needed distraction as well as the result of her own misplaced guilt, Sam submerges herself in solving the disappearance of Brooke (Olga Petsa), a teenage girl she used to nanny for. Searching for Brooke (and subsequently, the relationship between Sam and Brooke) is the looming mystery of the film, breaking up the moments of bleakness and brevity with a probing secret that serves to peel back the events of Sam’s incident layer by layer. This method of storytelling Pankiw employs means the audience is never overwhelmed with information, and is instead given elements of the larger story to piece together at a steadier pace.

Though the entire supporting cast rallies to make Sam’s world feel believable — from her concerned fellow comedians and roommates Paige and Phillip (Sabrina Jalees and Caleb Hearon), to the troubled Brooke — it is Sennott’s powerhouse performance of Sam that carries the film and cements her talents as a multi-faceted actress and darling of film festivals across the world. Under Pankiw’s direction, she expertly tackles the subject matter. Sam is portrayed kindly, with large measures of dry humour and maturity that make her feel fully realised, and allows the audience to feel immersed in the stomach-turning events that happen to her.

At times the film can feel tonally imbalanced, jumping between timelines and plot points, and while non-linear storytelling is effective when tackling the subject matter of PTSD (where healing is a largely non-linear experience), it can often confuse itself, shifting moods at an erratic pace. However, Sennott’s performance and the weaponisation of not one, but two Phoebe Bridgers needle drops contribute to grounding the film, and pulling things together with an ending scene that builds to a cathartic moment for both Sam and the audience.

I Used to Be Funny screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, running in metro cinemas August 3-20 and online August 18-27.

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