At the age of 78, writer/director Paul Schrader is on a bit of a run with films like First Reformed, The Card Counter, Master Gardener, and now Oh, Canada (based on Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone), the latest works in his filmography. The film reunites Schrader with his American Gigolo star Richard Gere in a story about dying documentary filmmaker Leonard File, who allows a small film crew, led by a former student named Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), to come in so he can tell his story through a confessional-like interview.
Oh, Canada feels incredibly personal, and Schrader leans into the idea that Gere is some type of conduit for his own regrets, telling stories of flawed and failed relationships (both familial and romantic), draft dodging, and a path of deception that led him to his current wife Emma (Uma Thurman), whom he insists stays in the room while this interview happens. We see most of these past events through flashbacks, with Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Priscilla) playing the younger Leonard (although strangely, sometimes Gere plays himself as a younger man as well). Sometimes we get lost in exactly when in his life certain events take place, but it hardly matters. It’s clear Leonard sees his life as a series of personal failures and professional successes.
It becomes clear early on that Leonard is experiencing these memories the way some people claim to have their life flash before their eyes before (or near) death, so we’re not always sure how accurate these accounts are; he’s even challenged at times by others as to whether his memory is correct on certain events. However you decipher the film, it’s apparent that Leonard has gotten away with a great deal of bad behavior because of his status as a world-renowned filmmaker. That opens up a whole new can of worms in today’s world, which Schrader deftly maneuvers through like someone who has thought a great deal on the subject.
Both Leonard and Schrader seem to believe that the only way to allow the truth on any subject or situation to rise to the surface is to have cameras rolling (Leonard insists on using an Interrotron camera, invented by real-life documentarian Errol Morris, in which the face of the interviewer appears in front of the camera lens using teleprompter technology, resulting in the subject speaking directly to camera at all times). Oh, Canada can be uneven at times, but it’s still a fascinating journey about a frequently unlikable subject that I found compelling and complicated, which are the building blocks of many a Paul Schrader work.
The film is now playing exclusively at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
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