Adam Salky’s Sarah Silverman-starring drama, I Smile Back, premiered at Sundance in January.There, the film predominantly drew attention for the fact that Silverman’s role wasn’t just that of a comedian enacting an onscreen job application for Dramatic Actor — but rather because, unsurprisingly, she gave a “monster of a performance,” seemingly better, in fact, than many veteran tragedians. The film is screening this Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival as a Special Presentation, and in advance of that, the first trailer has been released.
The trailer is nearly two minutes long, so you can get a good idea of what critics were raving about (again, pretty much solely: Silverman) after Sundance. (The Guardian said of the film itself that it “falls down when the stand-up isn’t on screen.”) I Smile Back sees Silverman playing Lacey, a woman living in suburbia with her husband and two children, who’s secretly slipping back into old addictions — abusing alcohol, drugs, and sleeping with her best friend’s husband. It’s based on the book by Amy Koppelman, and adapted by the author and Paige Dylan.
Watch the trailer: