Such A Funny Life is a 2019 drama about a man struggling to make it as a standup comedian while dealing with a hard life off stage.
There’s the old adage that inside every clown lies a great sadness, and we don’t have to look far to find many famous funny people who have revealed some darkness in their past through roles on the big screen. With writer and director Oliver Mann‘s feature film debut Such A Funny Life, that’s right where we are, with a tragic story of a man with a lifetime of pain trying to make a living as a comic. It’s an intimate story that doesn’t pull any narrative punches, perhaps limited by its budget, but nonetheless an authentic portrayal of much-needed hope and devastating truth.
It’s the George Bush era and David Gutierrez (Gonzalo Trigueros) is a twenty-something New Yorker, trying to bust into the comedy stand up scene with a good bit and some genuine talent. He hits all the local clubs, working on his jokes in front of small crowds looking for his break, knowing he’s got what it takes but not getting the attention he thinks he deserves. Meanwhile, at home, things are tough. His mother (Nastasha Strang), long suffering, slips into mental breakdown, needing professional care with David still feeling responsible for his younger sister Gabriella’s (Caitlyn Stellwagen) death. All the while, his abusive father Ralph (Tom Ashton), verbally condemns David his whole life, wanting him out. Escaping to Los Angeles after things go sour with his best friend Rob (Jacques Point Du Jour), he hopes for a second chance but that’s not how life works and soon his past pulls him into an ever growing darkness.
Such A Funny Life is not a simple story, dealing with a number of troubling issues from domestic violence, alcoholism, drugs and drug abuse, co-dependent relationships, mental disability, depression and more, all running through parallel timelines of the same people. It’s a lot of spinning plates but to his credit, Mann keeps most of it easy to follow, thanks to some clever shifts in appearance that allow us to keep track of which David we’re watching. What’s more, there becomes this kind of weighty symbiosis in these chapters where each folds upon the other with great intent, choices and consequences years apart playing out in different times. That’s not easy to do, especially with the payoff it eventually delivers.
Mann isn’t interested in holding our hands, even with some random narration here and there that feels a little tacked on, including a bit in the final shot that I get in terms of closing a circle but are made clear enough with Mann’s purposeful and often poignant imagery. It doesn’t diminish the impact but says what we already know. That’s thanks to some good writing and a story that doesn’t waste time, building and developing these few characters with great care. The film does very well in avoiding heavy-handed exposition, something of a curse to so many in the genre.
But it’s Mann’s visuals that sell Such A Funny Life the most, his control of the film’s style his greatest achievement. It’s subtle but you feel it from the start, this warm sort of heaviness where color and light are always just to the peripheral struggling to cut its way into the deep haunting shadows. Combine this with a small but convincing number of authentic sets, all feeling well lived in, and this becomes a very good looking movie. Add in a gentle score along with some terrific work from the cast, including Trigueros, Du Jour, and especially Wilma Rivera playing a truly broken young woman, and this is a deeply memorable effort. It’s unconventional in a lot of ways, and its separation from the norms may keep some at bay, but Such A Funny Life is a rare indie gem that deserves attention. Highly recommended.