Led by a surprisingly vulnerable turn from Richard Gere, acclaimed writer/director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) returns for his newest feature. A meandering exploration of memory and the on-camera deterioration of its lead character, Oh, Canada tries its hand at complexity, but comes across rather pretentious instead. Schrader’s drama on purely a visual level looks gorgeous, fueled by the fascinating cinematography of Andrew Wonder. The decision to portray flashbacks in full black-and-white also adds a certain aesthetic that juxtaposes against the modern-day efforts to tell this lengthy recollection. Jacob Elordi gives his all in Schrader’s surprisingly flimsy, almost entirely non-linear drama with very little to say.
Acclaimed documentarian Leonard Fife (Gere) is on the precipice of death, yet he agrees to one final interview from his students in Montreal. They have prepared a list of twenty-five questions cataloging Leonard’s entire life’s work, from his impressive career to puzzling life choices. The narrative fluctuates constantly between Leonard’s memories and his current state—the complexities of Leonard’s journey do not feel all that complex when examined from a closer angle. In fact, they begin to appear rather superfluous the deeper we get into the runtime. Is Leonard himself a reliable narrator, especially considering that Emma (Uma Thurman) gets so angry with him for revealing unspeakable things while being interviewed? Is there any rhyme or reason as to why sometimes within these memories, we see Leonard as Gere, while other times Leonard’s younger self looks like Jacob Elordi?
From a completely subjective perspective, the approach here feels entirely misguided. The structure of the story provides very little sympathy for Leonard and any of his plights. Moments of regret and unfulfilled dreams remain unexplored for the majority of the film, simply content to blur the lines between truth and embellishment instead. There do not appear to be any strong takeaways either. Schrader cannot seem to cut through the excess into the actual meat of the story, failing his characters and particularly the acting performances over and over again. One could argue that creating a sense of disorientation has been meant to mirror Leonard’s mental decline. However, even this approach frustrates as it veers into pretentiousness rather than exploring any element worthy of discussion.
Introspective but completely disjointed, Oh, Canada makes for an especially frustrating viewing experience for those trying to follow the story as laid out by a dying man. Schrader constantly makes bizarre choices, such as out of character narrations that only happen at seemingly random moments. Old Leonard frequently mumbles about nothing at all, and the dialogue during the segments when they are trying to film this documentary gives practically zero context to anything. Apart from the beauty of Canada and Jacob Elordi sporting a handlebar mustache or donning a “peace and love” jockstrap to escape military duty, Oh, Canada has to be the single most boring viewing experience of the year. Richard Gere emerges as a standout despite his hollow material. Shifting focus strictly to either young Leonard or old Leonard would have at least made much more sense on a narrative level. Instead, we are left with two confused halves of one baffling whole.
Make the journey across multiple timelines in Oh, Canada, coming to theaters on Friday, December 6th.
