Arclight Films
Carte Blanche
Northern Lights Films
Not part of a collection.
Oh, Canada
Famed Canadian-American leftist documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife was one of sixty thousand draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam. Now in his late seventies, Fife is dying of cancer in Montreal and has agreed to a final interview in which he is determined to bare all his secrets at last, to demythologize his mythologized life.
- Original title
- Oh, Canada
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- $1,276,529
Brent Marchant
Jan 23, 2025 · via TMDB
It’s bad enough when a film disappoints and doesn’t live up to expectations. But what’s perhaps worse is when a picture not only fails to live up to expectations, but also validates the negative reputation that precedes it. Such is the case, regrettably, with the latest feature from filmmaker Paul Schrader, an embarrassingly bad production from an artist who has written and/or directed such masterful works as “First Reformed” (2017), “American Gigolo” (1980), “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and “Taxi Driver” (1976). This miserably unfocused slog struggles to tell the story of Leonard Fife (Richard Gere), a famous but terminally ill director who’s being interviewed for a made-for-TV biography discussing his legendary life and career as a revered documentary filmmaker. However, the protagonist doesn’t see this so much as a congratulatory tribute to his accomplishments but as a cathartic, unburdening confession about the life he led that virtually no one knows anything about. To complicate matters, his rapidly failing health and cloudy memory keep him from fulfilling this objective, especially when he reveals secrets about himself not known by even those closest to him (most notably, his wife, Emma (Uma Thurman), and his protégé, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), director of the biography), revelations that they’re quick to attribute to faulty recall. Leonard’s previously hidden back story comes to life through a series of clumsy, disjointed flashbacks featuring his younger self (Jacob Elordi) presented in a largely unintelligible fashion that brings new meaning to the term “nonlinear.” What’s worse, though, is that the relevance of these admissions largely goes unexplained and unresolved, bearing seemingly little relation to the nature of his character or his career as an auteur. His flight to Canada and experience as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, for example, receives surprisingly little attention given that his defection from the US is essentially responsible for what made his vocation as a filmmaker possible. Then there are snippets from his many passing dalliances with women that make for a story more like “Oh! Calcutta!” than “Oh, Canada.” Taken together, these elements make for a hodgepodge of moments from a life undefined, one that viewers are likely to care little about in the end. Such work is highly uncharacteristic for an artist like Schrader, which makes the impression it leaves all the more worse. Whatever the director was going for here, it’s not particularly clear. And that’s too bad, given that the filmmaker appears to have had plenty of good material and resources to work with here, including a cast of players who turn in some of their best-ever on-screen performances, the dreadful script that they’ve been handed notwithstanding. For what it’s worth, the result is a major disappointment, one that exceeds the negative impressions it has already left on so many movie lovers who expect more from a talent like this.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Fandango At Home
Richard Gere
Leo Fife
Uma Thurman
Emma / Gloria
Jacob Elordi
Young Leo Fife
Michael Imperioli
Malcolm
Victoria Hill
Diana
Caroline Dhavernas
Rene
Penelope Mitchell
Sloan Ambrose / Amy
Kristine Froseth
Alicia Fife
Megan Mackenzie
Amanda
Peter Hans Benson
Benjamin Chapman
Scott Jaeck
Jackson Chapman
Cornelia Guest
Jessie Chapman
Zach Shaffer
Cornel
Sean Mahan
Cornel Fife, Sr.
Orlagh Cassidy
Sarah Fife
Jake Weary
Stanley Reinhart
Gary Hilborn
Rev. Stephen Sitwell
Ryan Woodle
Jimmy
Alan Campbell
Mr. Callahan
Dylan Flashner
Charles
Aaron Roman Weiner
Captain
Amanda Lea Mason
Eastern Employee
John Way
Garth
Logan Kovach
Boho
Jean Brassard
Judge Uhlig
Joshua Wills
Young Man in Plaid Jacket
Katherine Castro
"A" Camera Operator
Craig Lindberg
Key Makeup Artist
Paul Schrader
Director
Avy Kaufman
Casting
Bill Way
Co-Executive Producer
Elliott Whitton
Co-Executive Producer
Judd Ehrlich
Co-Executive Producer
Andrea Bucko
Executive Producer
Bilal Ahmad
Executive Producer
Braxton Pope
Executive Producer
Hazel Clarre
Executive Producer
Kyle Stroud
Executive Producer
Riccardo Maddalosso
Executive Producer
Ellie Haines
Production Assistant
Lon Haber
Publicist
Mark DeSimone
ADR Mixer
Russell Banks
Novel
Paul Schrader
Screenplay
Apocalypse Now
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Wages of Fear
Three Colors: Red
Anatomy of a Murder
All Quiet on the Western Front
Brokeback Mountain
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
The Killing
Walk the Line
Match Point
Jackie Brown
Bed and Board
Oliver Twist
About a Boy
Absolute Power
Radius
Return to Montauk
White Butterfly
Clutter
Paris, Texas
The Shack
Still Alice
Train Dreams
Trumbo
Nomadland
Fathers and Daughters
The Cider House Rules
The Post
Living
In the Bedroom
The Railway Man
Another Woman
Tetro
The Salt Path
Nothing Personal
Here
Dad
Hereafter
Jimmy P.
Oct 5, 2024
New York Film Festival
Oct 19, 2024
Woodstock Film Festival
Oct 26, 2024
AFI Fest
Nov 9, 2024
Denver Film Festival
Dec 6, 2024
New York City, New York
Dec 13, 2024
Jan 21, 2025
