Cannes 2024 – Oh, Canada: a man dying is beautiful

Paul Schrader’s confession

At the conclusion of Master Gardener, Paul Schrader brought the curtain down on his admirable redemption trilogy with a form of optimism. But a year later, at the age of 85, the great American screenwriter and director adapted Russell Banks’ novel, Oh, Canada – published before the death of the famous author and to whom the film is dedicated -, and is projected with surprising acidity.

Oh, Canada is the story of the last hours of a famous documentary director, as he accepts an interview to look back on his career. Suffering from terminal cancer, Leonard Fife suffers physically and psychologically, and this suffering – Christian martyrdom is still there – is a deprivation that drives him to only one thing: telling the truth. The truth about him in any case, that of an old man who, despite his status as a great “busy” cinema figure, actually considers himself nothing more than an impostor.

Leonard Fife’s broken memory, the growing confusion between fiction and reality, as well as the multiplicity of narrators in the film’s structure – with some flaws – a bold and interesting narrative. Who is really talking? Is he Leonard’s rejected son, who opens the film in voiceover, after his father’s death? Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), who creates the documentary portrait of his mentor? Is it Leonard, despite the unreliability of his speech, or Emma (Uma Thurman), his wife, who says nothing but tries to punctuate and redirect the painful words of her life and work partner?

It is obviously Paul Schrader who fundamentally tells this history of cinema, this essay on the construction of images and the honesty of filmmakers, through a man who has always escaped from the reality of his country and his American identity to analyze and criticize his films.

Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi excellent

44 years later American gigolo, Paul Schrader reunites with Richard Gere. This embodies Leonard Fife today and shortly before, still in his prime. Jacob Elordi plays him, as a young man. It is disconcerting to see that Jacob Elordi, the irresistible young protagonist, displays a charm reminiscent of Richard Gere in the 1980 film Passing the Baton and Homage. Oh, Canada plays with a casual alternation of color and black and white, and with the sometimes intrusion of the “old” Leonard Fife in the sequences of his youth. Richard Gere, in surprising close-ups, manages to demonstrate, something he hasn’t always done in his career, that he is a great actor.

The rest of the cast shines, Uma Thurman in particular, in her restraint barred only by a few fleeting, dazzling emotions. They are the ones who formally carry forward Paul Schrader’s classic themes, including that of religion. Whether Malcolm or Emma, ​​they both serve as confessors behind the optical interview device created by Leonard himself. We put the microphone on him and made him up as if we were giving him last rites.

The twilight of Hollywood’s new monsters

The man of the 20th century is dying and, although he admits defeat, he has not yet stopped his fight. With Martin Scorsese in particular, Paul Schrader has contributed to a memorable male bestiary dedicated to a violent and tragic life. Several films of recent years, of different genres, show this twilight, and Paul Schrader also participates in it. It is therefore honorable and touching that the director turns this sun into a form of chronicle of cowardice.

In fact, in his story, Leonard Fife shows himself to be a coward, dropping out of university to go to Cuba and become a writer. Then finally not finding his girlfriend again, after her miscarriage, while he was traveling to finalize the purchase of their house. Already a coward when he passed himself off as homosexual and unfit for combat, just to avoid going to Vietnam. Always a coward, in the repeated moments of seduction in which he conquers his women by convincing them that he is more talented than them, that he is better.

“Don’t be gentle in that good night”

Too late to no longer be a coward and selfish, Leonard then decides to make the final confession. But is he really? Isn’t he also a great filmmaker, a brilliant and committed artist? Implicitly Paul Schrader opens a look at the famous “separation between man and artist”. While his wife would like to preserve her memory and artistic heritage, both for her and for the world, while the director of the portrait thinks only of sensationalistic production of her, Leonard refuses to appear the coward he was in her personal life she.

Never honest with anyone or himself, he knows his work will outlast him no matter what, so he might as well confess and rage until his last breath for being such a coward. The time of redemption is over.

Source: Cine Serie

Ray

Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.