Chris Knipp
07-11-2024, 06:31 PM
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/%20srrynot.jpg
LOUIS C.K. IN SORRY/NOT SORRY
CARA MONES, CAROLINE SUH: SORRY/NOT SORRY (2023)
Rapid comeback of a famous sex offender
Personally I knew little of Louis C.K. beyond the fact that he was a comic and media figure surrounded by scandal. From this film I have learned, first that he was more than that, the most admired of the comics, a "king" of comedy; second, that he has long been an exhibitionist and a sex offender, harming many women, mostly young aspiring female comics, by masturbating in front of them. On stage, Louis C.K. has often talked of this proclivity and also made gestures mimicking masturbation. I am still left with little understanding of why the man is considered so funny.
This film tells us that when this pattern of repeated offense became well known, in 2017, largely due to a New York Times article, Mr. C.K., who publically admitted the allegations were correct, was forced to withdraw from performing for some months (the film suggests two years; other sources say ten months). And then he came back, too soon, in the opinion of some, starting by appearing at the famous Comedy Cellar in Chicago (enabled by its owner Norm Dworman, a talking head here). He has been allowed to continue practicing his career and widely been forgiven, and won a Grammy, though the damage he has done remains. In this film women, notably Jen Kirkman, Abby Schachner and Megan Koester, including some of those he has harmed or who know about his behavior, tell this story. We listen to them and hear their anger and outrage, often expressed in the expletive-intense style of current American standup comedy. (There is irony in this language, which suggests bad manners aren't exclusive to Mr. C.K.) The message is that power prevails, and young aspiring women don't have it, and Louis C.K., a big, bulky red-headed comedy king, has lots of it.
Louis C.K.'s reputation is not entirely untarnished, his career wholly as before. Many venues will not have him, he will probably not be back on the "Tonight" show, but he has worked out ways of appearing at independent venues, and managing his own business, and he appears to remain highly successful, including selling out Madison Square Garden.
Louis C.K.'s sexual abuses are on a far lower scale of criminality than those of Bill Cosby, who has served prison, though only three years, for his multiple sexual assaults. This film consists mainly of several female comics' descriptions of their experiences with Louis C.K. Particularly notable is the time when he invited two aspiring female comics to his hotel room in Austin and then undressed and masturbated to orgasm before them.
Those who shirked responsibility, like John Stewart, denied knowledge and after the knowledge was open glossed over the crime. People knowingly ask why the offended women on the phone or in a room with the man when he openly masturbated, did not hang up the phone or walk out of the room, thus blaming the victims. Clearly the young women were in C.K.'s thrall, fearing that if they escaped, or afterward reported him, they'd lose their careers. This is the cold fact of power and male dominance.
Once upon a time long ago, standup comics were provocative but not offensive. Their jokes were verbally witty and smart. An example of these is early Woody Allen, himself accused lately of being a sex offender, but as a standup comic (there are videos) was almost unbelievably clever and amusing. Vulgarity and wit are different things.
But the decline in taste is not under consideration in this film. Ih fact the women comics often express themselves in a way that seems tasteless, and Louis C.K. is not being criticized for talking dirty in his performances. Such performances are now common in the public realm that were once less open. This film is too narrow in scope to take up these issues, and that is a major weakness. It doesn't even give us much of a sense of what Louis C.K.'s celebrated humor is like. Broader issues of morality and taste are far beyond its scope. Critics are calling it "disappointing" and "shallow."
Toward the end of Sorry/Not Sorry - which alludes partly to a post-return show of C.K.'s with a huge title "SORRY" dominating the stage, meaning somehow the opposite - the idea comes up that "Cancel Culture" has would up meaning very little. Within certain limits (outlined by Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby) male power can ultimately cancel any "cancellation," as it the case with Louis C.K. It's not just the way people talk nowadays, but moral standards have declined, and comedy and its bold practitioners reflect that.
Sorry/Not Sorry, 90 mins., debuted at Toronto Sept. 10, 2023; also shown at San Francisco, Santa Barbara, DOC NYC, Thessaloniki, and other festivals. US theatrical and internet release Fri., July 12, 2024. Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sorrynot-sorry/) rating: 61%.
LOUIS C.K. IN SORRY/NOT SORRY
CARA MONES, CAROLINE SUH: SORRY/NOT SORRY (2023)
Rapid comeback of a famous sex offender
Personally I knew little of Louis C.K. beyond the fact that he was a comic and media figure surrounded by scandal. From this film I have learned, first that he was more than that, the most admired of the comics, a "king" of comedy; second, that he has long been an exhibitionist and a sex offender, harming many women, mostly young aspiring female comics, by masturbating in front of them. On stage, Louis C.K. has often talked of this proclivity and also made gestures mimicking masturbation. I am still left with little understanding of why the man is considered so funny.
This film tells us that when this pattern of repeated offense became well known, in 2017, largely due to a New York Times article, Mr. C.K., who publically admitted the allegations were correct, was forced to withdraw from performing for some months (the film suggests two years; other sources say ten months). And then he came back, too soon, in the opinion of some, starting by appearing at the famous Comedy Cellar in Chicago (enabled by its owner Norm Dworman, a talking head here). He has been allowed to continue practicing his career and widely been forgiven, and won a Grammy, though the damage he has done remains. In this film women, notably Jen Kirkman, Abby Schachner and Megan Koester, including some of those he has harmed or who know about his behavior, tell this story. We listen to them and hear their anger and outrage, often expressed in the expletive-intense style of current American standup comedy. (There is irony in this language, which suggests bad manners aren't exclusive to Mr. C.K.) The message is that power prevails, and young aspiring women don't have it, and Louis C.K., a big, bulky red-headed comedy king, has lots of it.
Louis C.K.'s reputation is not entirely untarnished, his career wholly as before. Many venues will not have him, he will probably not be back on the "Tonight" show, but he has worked out ways of appearing at independent venues, and managing his own business, and he appears to remain highly successful, including selling out Madison Square Garden.
Louis C.K.'s sexual abuses are on a far lower scale of criminality than those of Bill Cosby, who has served prison, though only three years, for his multiple sexual assaults. This film consists mainly of several female comics' descriptions of their experiences with Louis C.K. Particularly notable is the time when he invited two aspiring female comics to his hotel room in Austin and then undressed and masturbated to orgasm before them.
Those who shirked responsibility, like John Stewart, denied knowledge and after the knowledge was open glossed over the crime. People knowingly ask why the offended women on the phone or in a room with the man when he openly masturbated, did not hang up the phone or walk out of the room, thus blaming the victims. Clearly the young women were in C.K.'s thrall, fearing that if they escaped, or afterward reported him, they'd lose their careers. This is the cold fact of power and male dominance.
Once upon a time long ago, standup comics were provocative but not offensive. Their jokes were verbally witty and smart. An example of these is early Woody Allen, himself accused lately of being a sex offender, but as a standup comic (there are videos) was almost unbelievably clever and amusing. Vulgarity and wit are different things.
But the decline in taste is not under consideration in this film. Ih fact the women comics often express themselves in a way that seems tasteless, and Louis C.K. is not being criticized for talking dirty in his performances. Such performances are now common in the public realm that were once less open. This film is too narrow in scope to take up these issues, and that is a major weakness. It doesn't even give us much of a sense of what Louis C.K.'s celebrated humor is like. Broader issues of morality and taste are far beyond its scope. Critics are calling it "disappointing" and "shallow."
Toward the end of Sorry/Not Sorry - which alludes partly to a post-return show of C.K.'s with a huge title "SORRY" dominating the stage, meaning somehow the opposite - the idea comes up that "Cancel Culture" has would up meaning very little. Within certain limits (outlined by Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby) male power can ultimately cancel any "cancellation," as it the case with Louis C.K. It's not just the way people talk nowadays, but moral standards have declined, and comedy and its bold practitioners reflect that.
Sorry/Not Sorry, 90 mins., debuted at Toronto Sept. 10, 2023; also shown at San Francisco, Santa Barbara, DOC NYC, Thessaloniki, and other festivals. US theatrical and internet release Fri., July 12, 2024. Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sorrynot-sorry/) rating: 61%.