We Go Way Back (2006)

starring Maggie Brown, Amber Hubert
written and directed by Lynn Shelton

Kate learns on her 23rd birthday that she has been picked to play the title role in Hedda Gabler. Up to that point she was just an assistant in the company, helping out where ever she was needed. She rises to the occasion and tries to do everything that the micromanaging director asks her to do. She gives and gives.

Kate sleepwalks through awkward sexual encounters. She learns enough Norwegian to perform her lines in the original language. She puts up with having the director replace the actor who was playing her husband with his 15-year-old nephew. She keeps her head up and keeps trying but eventually it comes to be too much.

Kate, throughout the movie, reads letters that she wrote to her older self when she was 13. Her younger self materializes and becomes real after Kate breaks. Her 13-year-old self guides her back to herself and then disappears.

Thoughts

This is Lynn Shelton's first feature film. I was interested in watching one of her movies and this was the only one that was available for free on Amazon. She directed a number of episodes of television shows (Mad Men, Master of None, Maron, Casual) that I've seen. It isn't a very long movie (80 minutes). It has a very indie feel to it in the subject matter and the way it is shot and edited together.

If the purpose of the movie was to make the viewer feel what Kate was going through then I thought it was particularly effective in that regard. I wasn't sure what to make of what was going on. There were a few moments of humor but basically the trajectory of the movie seems to be Kate's downward spiral.

I knew nothing about the play Hedda Gabler. I'm not sure how much that mattered. I probably missed some things because of my unfamiliarity with the play.

I found this short interview that the Film Stage conducted with writer/director Lynn Shelton in 2011 about We Go Way Back to be very illuminating.

I found the ending of the movie to very moving. I'm not sure I would recommend this movie to most people. It is good but I don't think it is for everyone.