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I’ve seen Oh, Canada twice. The second viewing led to this interview. My first time was a test screening that I knew Paul Schrader had entered because I heard “AGGH!” as he exited the elevator. “Silver FUCKING bells. Christmastime in New York FUCKING City” growled as he walked into the tiny room with a puffer jacket and sunglasses. He sat directly behind me, his breathing soundtracking every second of the film.

Seconds after it ended he walked around the little console, pointed at me and three other people and asked, “You just told your friend you saw the new Paul Schrader movie and they say, ‘What’s it about in one word?’ What word are you telling them?” He didn't seem…

Review by Karsten ★★★½ Liked

was on board with this, thank god. felt way more active in its direction than schrader’s last two films (ittedly haven’t finished master gardener because i keep falling asleep to it). always knew elordi would be great in a schrader movie but richard gere really, really brings it. feels a bit rushed, the pieces don’t all fall into place as nicely as they should. almost reads like he was holding in so many ideas while making that last trilogy and this allowed him to open the floodgates. but i’m very into paul schrader being this soft and reflective.

looking at my cannes ratings so far, it looks like i’m a pretty easy guy to please. but you know what, lots of big directors are really breaking out of what we’ve come to expect from them (yorgos, schrader, the big one). and i eat that shit up, it’s exciting. i’ll be thinking about that photography class(?) scene for awhile

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ Liked

I got the impression watching this that Schrader considers it a bit baffling that he's revered as something of a politically-conscious and formally daring artist by a younger generation he's completely disconnected from in life experience and wants to set the record straight about that. Increasingly hard for me to gauge who these are for outside of the Cult of Paul, but if it means anything to you this one offers no genre componant as a tradeoff for deploying a lot more stylistic verve than we've seen during his stripped-down rebirth post-First Reformed. Lots of toying with aspect ratios, saturated color/black-and-white film format mimicking, meta use of screens/lenses during the close-up interview portion, and overall blending of documentary with subjective…

Review by Will Sloan Liked

Last night’s double-bill of Matt Farley movies must still be ringing in my head, because Paul Schrader’s latest reminded me a bit of Local Legends Bloodboth, both for its incredible and provocative resourcefulness (Scorsese spends $200 million de-aging his actors; Schrader dyes Michael Imperioli’s hair and tells you he’s 19 – take it or leave it) and for its reality-bending depiction of the heroic artist and his very human wreckage. Schrader still undefeated (aside from all those times he was defeated).

3

"are you a homosexual?"
"no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no"

5

Unable to tell if this movie is actually compelling or if Phosphorescent is very good at making music. 

The reality behind legend, reckoning with the ripples of our youth — it’s a surprisingly tender experience thanks to the Richard Gere performance, but its exploration is so undercooked (dare I say, rushed). The individual bones are excellent, it’s just missing a lot of connective tissue.

Something about the ending feels like boomer’s on Facebook-coded, idk I can’t explain it.

11

Wrapped OH CANADA tonight. I have not posted about it during filming because, although we had WGA and SAG waivers, there were rogue union who sought to picket even legitimate productions and I had cast and crew who did not want to be stigmatized by crossing an illegitimate picket line. But that's in the past. Principal photography is completed. Thanks again to Richard Gere. Uma Thurman, Jake Elordi and all the "Oh, Canada" cast and crew.

Review by Robert Daniels ★★★★½ Liked

As someone who’s been extremely hit or miss on late era Schrader, I really dig “Oh Canada.” It beautifully captures the divide between myth and reality, legend and truth, idol and human. Schrader understands it’s the faults that make an artist, and Richard Gere is the perfect actor to translate the film’s bundle of memory and regret—the kind that happens when the brain is swimming toward the unknown—that is so soft and open, I’m sorta shocked how divisive it’s been at Cannes.

3

Having seen its final cut, I talked to Paul Schrader about Oh, Canada, Tarantino's The Move Critic, "Marty, that's the worst fucking idea I've ever heard," hanging with Leone and Fassbinder at Cannes — these and sundry topics.

I have a faith in the material, the product. The stuff I’ve made over the years has not had, by and large, a very successful, immediate financial life. But I’ve been very fortunate in having shelf life. A number of the films I’m involved in — maybe a disproportionate number — are still hanging around. Even movies I have a problem with, like Hardcore, people are still talking about. There’s a book coming out about [that] this summer — a picture book.…

Review by Jeff Zhang ★★★★

Not sure what non-Schraderheads will get out of this, but I was quite taken by this new interpretation of “man and a journal.” The gulf between myth and reality, the haze of memory. Gentle, but also a brutally self-flagellating confessional.

Review by Matt Singer ★★★½ Liked

“I can’t tell the truth unless that camera is on.”

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This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.