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Oh, Canada (film)
| Oh, Canada | |
|---|---|
 Release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul Schrader |
| Screenplay by | Paul Schrader |
| Based on | Foregone by Russell Banks |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Andrew Wonder |
| Edited by | Benjamin Rodriguez Jr. |
| Music by | Phosphorescent |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Kino Lorber |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $136,042[2][3] |
Oh, Canada is a 2024 American drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, based on the 2021 novel Foregone by Russell Banks. It stars Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Jacob Elordi, Victoria Hill, and Kristine Froseth. In the film, a dying filmmaker (played by Gere in the present and Elordi in flashbacks) sits for a final interview, during which he admits that his status as a progressive icon is built on a foundation of lies and half-truths, and that he has repeatedly used and discarded his family and friends. The film marked the second collaboration between Gere and Schrader after American Gigolo (1980) as well as Schrader's second adaptation of a novel by Banks after 1997's Affliction.
The film had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2024.[4] It was released on December 6, 2024, by Kino Lorber.[5]
Plot
[edit]Filmmaker Leonard "Leo" Fife is dying of cancer. He is a hero to Canadian progressives, who revere his award-winning muckraking documentaries and are fascinated by his life story. According to legend, Leo fled America for Montreal to dodge the Vietnam War draft, and went on a Kerouac-style road trip to Castro's communist Cuba. In his last days, he agrees to sit for a CBC documentary filmed by his former students Malcolm and Diana. Malcolm promises that he is making an admiring retrospective of Leo’s career.
Over the years, Leo has lied to the public many times and abandoned many women. He sees the documentary as an opportunity to confess his sins to his wife Emma, another former student of his. Although Malcolm initially wants to focus on Leo's films, Leo dismissively explains that he became a filmmaker by accident and often drifts into remembering his early life.
Before moving to Canada, Leo, an aspiring novelist, lives in Virginia with his pregnant wife Alicia and son Cornel. His wife's wealthy parents live nearby. Although Alicia prefers to stay in Virginia, he feels stifled by his in-laws’ gentility and traditional values, and hopes a change of scenery will revitalize his writing. As such, although the University of Virginia wants him to stay, he accepts a job at Goddard College in Vermont, hiding the UVA offer from Alicia. To get him to stay in Virginia, his father-in-law offers to train him to run the family business and gives him a week to decide. In the meantime, Leo travels to Vermont to buy a house near the college, which Alicia's parents are paying for.
It becomes clear that Leo abandoned his wife and son when fleeing to Canada. In voiceover, presumably recorded by Malcolm for his documentary, an adult Cornel explains that he did not see his father for 30 years. To save her husband's reputation, Emma tries to stop the interview, explaining that Leo is mentally unstable due to his illness and use of prescription fentanyl. However, Leo and Malcolm—who realizes he has a Leo-style exposé on his hands—both insist on continuing.
Leo recalls more embarrassing moments from his past: he stole from a family friend who gave him a job after he dropped out of college; seduced both Diana and Emma while teaching them; cheated on his first wife while she was pregnant; and lied to the public about visiting Cuba. Emma recalls that when an adult Cornel introduced himself to his father at a film festival, Leo harshly told him that he had no son to avoid embarrassment. Emma met with Cornel privately, but declined his request to stay in touch, preferring to avoid reminders of her husband's past.
Leo revisits his final drive to the Canadian border. He visits his old friend Stanley, and is dismayed to hear that moving to Vermont did not revitalize Stanley’s painting career. That evening, Leo is informed that Alicia miscarried. Even so, he accepts when Gloria (who Stanley admits cheating on) sexually propositions him that night.
Emma ends the interview when Leo begins to die. Malcolm's assistant plants a hidden camera to record his last words: "Oh, Canada," after the national anthem.
Leo remembers dodging the draft by pretending to be gay, meaning that he left America for other reasons.[a] His mind flickers to the moment he crossed the Canadian border. His younger self raises his arms to the sun and walks to a new life.
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Aging filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere), still fiery despite his battle with illness, wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it’s too late. As the director of acclaimed documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his Vietnam War draft-dodging and his past relationships harbor thorny truths. Leonard sits for an extended interview with his former student Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), relating candid stories about his younger self (Jacob Elordi) in the tumultuous 1960s and beyond. At Leonard’s insistence, his wife and indispensable artistic partner, Emma (Uma Thurman), bears witness to it all. His successes are held up against his failings and, as the man is cleansed of the myth, Leonard must confront what is left. Paul Schrader’s adaptation of Russell Banks’s novel sees him reunited with Gere more than 40 years after American Gigolo, and together they deliver a moving and deeply personal take on this story of an artist reflecting on a lifetime of storytelling.
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