Written and directed by Kris Rey, I Used to Go Here follows a semi-successful novelist as she returns to her alma mater for some growing up. Kate, played by Gillian Jacobs, has some personal issues to work through and thankfully there’s a crucible on hand in the form of a brief speaking engagement. I Used to Go Here proudly wears its academia hijinks heritage, with Wonder Boys a clear touchstone.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
A smart thing this movies does is have its story lines build towards Kate making a bad choice, rather than just to the final beat when she makes the right one. Too often writers, myself included, focus solely on the end point of the character’s journey. The wrong decision they make at the dark night of the soul feels tacked on because the writer, the story, the audience, and even the characters already know where the story is going. “All is lost” just becomes a brief detour on the way to the real destination.
I Used to Go Here makes the wrong choice feel like the destination. The different storylines – Kate’s insecurities about her work, her ex and herself; the undergraduate drama she gets mixed up in; even her grad student handler – all come together at the moment Kate makes a terrible plan. Let’s go break into my mentor’s house and catch him having an affair with a student. You simultaneously know it’s a bad idea and completely understand why she’s doing it.
As a result, it has real stakes. We don’t know what’s going to happen next. All we can do is worry.
The Take-Away
Be wary of falling into the inevitability trap, where all roads lead to your final character beat. By having them instead lead to the wrong decision at the end of act two, it keeps your third act more in question and the stakes more felt.