I Used To Go Here | SXSW 2020 Film Review

Eclipsing one’s thirties can be a tricky pill to swallow. By this time in our lives, our paths are pretty much fixated, locked-in-place. We have a spouse (the first one at least), possibly a child or two, an established social routine, and definitely a career trajectory. Sure, things can change on a dime, but more often than not, by your mid-thirties you are where you are. Unless you’re I Used To Go Here’s Kate Conklin, that is.

For an intelligent, charming, and striking woman, Kate Conklin (Gillian Jacobs) is a success story that somehow ended up lost in translation. A former fiancé cast aside, a newly published novel so poorly received her book tour has been canceled, and an expectant best friend who serves as Kate’s conscience of sorts. Bewildered and unsure of what her future holds, things seem to brighten up exponentially when her former professor – and college crush – David (Jermaine Clement) calls and invites her back to her alma mater for a live reading of her novel.

Kate holes up at a local Bed and Breakfast – one run with barbaric curfews and weird allotment limitations on keys – which happens to be centered directly across the street from the “Writers Retreat”, Kate’s old sorority house of sorts and home to all of her favorite memories. As she deals with reminder after reminder of her lack of foundation (David is now married, another former friend with romantic potential also surprises her with a random relationship), Kate begins to drift over to the Writers Retreat and forges a new kinship with a group 15 years her junior.

I Used To Go Here is a tale of self-discovery, as it centers around Kate’s initial inability to understand how her life fell so far off course and her journey towards a heartier purpose. Writer-director Kris Rey manages to deliver a script devoid of sermons and wasted monologues, and instead presents a genuine portrait of a person slowly coming to grips with the responsibility inherent to their own growth. Anyone who has found themselves weaving back-and-forth in life between their dreams and their obligations can completely relate to Kate. As a writer myself, I know I could. And reflecting on the wild and free follies of youth definitely seems more enticing the further away from them you get, and Rey has an innate eye for this sort of world view.

This film is stacked with quality supporting players, especially in Rey’s “book club” version of Animal House. Brandon Daley, Forrest Goodluck, and Hannah Marks all elevate moments in the film. As does Josh Wiggins’ charmingly candid Hugo, a pseudo spiritual potential love interest for Kate who is wrestling with his own demons of sorts. Lest we forget the always divine Jermaine Clement, who gives a fairly limited but thoroughly restrained performance as a person who seems genuinely interested in Kate’s success, yet holds a few demons of his own.

None of the above matters if Rey casts the wrong Kate though, and it’s through Gillian Jacobs’ performance that I Used To Go Here shines. In all honesty, Kate was a bit grating in the early goings on. Always wearing a smile and shaking off the worst news with a shrug just came off a bit too early 90s Meg Ryan at first. But as the film progresses, Jacobs peels back the layers of frustration and need for belonging that lies within Kate, and the character came wholly into focus. Jacobs is naturally funny, any casual viewer of Community is already aware of that. Here, she also demonstrates a knack for discrete character development through minor physical tics that showcases her ability to carry a film like this solely on her shoulders. What Kate Conklin ultimately demonstrates is that she is relatable, any of us can completely understand where she is at any given moment, and that’s completely due to Gillian Jacobs’ carefully textured performance.

I Used To Go Here is equal parts Young Adult and American Pie, but ultimately it emerges as its own entity. Kris Rey and Gillian Jacobs have delivered a winning film that may even spark a little self-reflection of your own before the credits roll. And when they do, you can rest assured this was definitely a trip worth taking.