Oh, Canada

Writer-director Paul Schrader (Light Sleeper, First Reformed) returns with this mournful, reflective drama starring Richard Gere as ageing, ailing filmmaker Leonard Fife, who wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it’s too late.

As the director of lauded documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his avoidance of the Vietnam War draft and his past relationships harbor thorny truths. Finally choosing to reveal the truth and lies in his life and career, Leonard sits for an extended filmed interview with his former student Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), charging ahead with candid stories about his younger self (Jacob Elordi) in the fractious 1960s and beyond. At Leonard’s insistence, his wife and indispensable partner, Emma (Uma Thurman), hears it all. Leonard’s successes are held up against his failings–the fibs held up against the facts–and as the man in full is cleansed of the myth, Leonard must confront what is left.

“Oh, Canada might be a movie that was conceived in the long dark night of the soul, but it moves towards brightness and possibility.” ~Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

“An often fascinating match of director and actor, in which both seem to be trying to exorcize the demons of aging through art.” ~Esther Zuckerman`, The Daily Beast