Film No. 23 (2025) March 30th. 3:45 PM EVENT CINEMAS, Cine 8, Innaloo.
"The story begins, the night of March 30th, nineteen sixty eight". (Leo Fife begins his story for the documentary reflecting his life as a film-maker in Canada).
NOMINEE: Palme d'Or (Paul Schrader) Cannes Film Festival. (2025).
Lovers of U.S. independent film-making often have a favourite Paul Schrader film, don't they? For me it's THE CARD COUNTER. Sadly his latest, OH, CANADA, won't rank with my Schrader "favs", unfortunately.
Richard Gere's, Leo Fife says, "You haven't heard the half of it", to his wife Emma (Uma Thurman), early on here. He proceeds to tell his story, hellbent on revealing all (whatever that means). From here nothing really surprises either Emma or the viewer. I think Leo was either, a philanderer, or a mixed up man who could never settle on a course in life. He accidentally became a world renowned documentary film maker when some film he took (because he liked the colours he was seeing), revealed a dark secret. His documentaries were landmark commentaries revealing the truth behind, Agent Orange, the slaughter of baby seals, etc, etc. But the real story seems to be his private life - but who cares? I didn't. The narrative is muddled and it's not as though Fife was a real person.
Schrader can be highly original in the way he layers his films. His soundtracks are rich and indulgent. His characters are often complicated, and have substance. Here, the latter two qualities are in play, but unfortunately his message remains confusingly banal. 7GUMS.
