TIFF
I’ve read the reviews out of the Toronto International Film Festival for Sorry/Not Sorry with some trepidation. After all, I’m one of the talking heads in the documentary from filmmakers Caroline Suh and Cara Mones reexamining the case of comedian Louis C.K., who admitted to multiple cases of sexual misconduct in 2017 and took a brief hiatus, only to come back with a Grammy-winning special that reframed his #MeToo moment as if he were the real victim.
But I’m the least famous commentator in the doc. And the trepidation I’ve felt is nothing compared to what comedians Jen Kirkman and Megan Koester have endured, first by speaking out years before C.K. copped to his criminal behavior, and then by contributing their voices once more to this film. And even that pales in comparison to the women C.K. victimized, only one of whom, Abby Schachner, participated in the documentary.
Critics who have lamented that Sorry/Not Sorry feels more like a book report than a more thoroughly investigative exposé forget that the media ecosystem sadly can become an echo chamber. This film isn’t for them, but for the masses who have largely forgotten about or minimized #MeToo. It’s for the people who believe C.K. not only asked for but received consent from the women he masturbated in front of, since the comedian claimed as much in his special Sincerely Louis C.K., which won him a Grammy for Best Comedy Album in 2022, following Dave Chappelle’s Grammy win three years earlier for performances in which he described C.K.’s victims as “brittle-ass spirits.” As I said in the documentary: “Making fun of the victims is still good for business.”
