Even though the world is still recovering from her earth-shaking delivery of “your parents are upper middle class” in Bodies Bodies Bodies, Rachel Sennott is back with yet another sardonic but personally miserable protagonist in I Used To Be Funny, the feature-length debut from director Ally Pankiw.
While Sennott has infused all of her characters with her unique brand of unhinged humor, this one might hit closest to home. Like the actor, Sennott’s character, Sam, was once a stand-up comic just trying to make it in the scene. Sam, however, doesn’t have a lot to laugh about in her personal life. As she struggles with PTSD stemming from a sexual assault, Sam must also weigh whether or not to join the search for a missing teenager (Olga Petsa) she used to nanny. The film alternates between past and present, as Sam tries to get back onstage and reconcile with her trauma.
“I wanted to explore what the ups and downs of recovery from trauma actually look like,” Pankiw said of the film in a director’s statement (via Entertainment Weekly). “It’s less often a tale of revenge or vengeance or pure devastation, but rather a slow, lifelong repairing of the relationships that shape us and a reclaiming of our own comedic voices and joy. This film is ultimately about how far and deep the fractures of trauma can reach after even one act of violence.”
While Pankiw hasn’t directed a feature-length film before, she’s been a part of the scene for a while now. She directed season one of Mae Martin’s Netflix comedy, Feel Good, as well as episodes of Shrill, The Great, and Black Mirror (“Joan Is Awful”). To some, she may be better known as the visionary behind popular music videos like MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers’ “Silk Chiffon,” Cyn’s “Holy Roller,” and The Beaches’ “Snake Tongue.”
