Time: 91 Minutes
Cast:
Richard Gere as Leonard “Leo” Fife
Jacob Elordi as young Leo
Uma Thurman as Emma / Gloria
Victoria Hill as Diana
Michael Imperioli as Malcolm
Caroline Dhavernas as Rene
Penelope Mitchell as Sloan/Amy
Kristine Froseth as Alicia
Director: Paul Schrader

I’ve liked Paul Schrader’s last few movies with First Reformed, The Card Counter and Master Gardener, so I was interested to see his latest film titled Oh, Canada. I didn’t know what to expect outside of it starring Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi and Uma Thurman and it still caught me off guard. While I do have some issues with it, I liked it overall.

Oh, Canada is a character study, focussing on someone pondering the past and present and attempting to tell their story and regrets. The storytelling definitely leans into the unreliable narrator approach, full of contradictions and fungible memories. There are even times in the memories/flashbacks where they swap between the older and younger actors to play the main character. Also as Richard Gere is telling his story, he would sometimes jump between multiple different points in time. It is confusing, but deliberately so, and for the most part I appreciated it. I think the biggest issue is that while it does try to cover a lot of his life, it feels a little undercooked at 90 minutes in length. To a degree, I get that the audience only learning bits and pieces of his life is intentional, but it still feels like not enough was shown to us.

Richard Gere is great in the lead role of Leonard Fife, he really conveys his character as an artist reflecting on regrets and mistakes, as well as his declining condition with his confusion when he’s telling his story. Jacob Elordi is equally compelling as a younger version of Gere, both performances come together to make Fife feel really lived in as a person. Uma Thurman doesn’t get a lot to do as Fife’s wife in the present day, but is good in her scenes.

Paul Schrader’s direction is solid, the cinematography is really good, and the editing works pretty well with the style particularly working in making much of the experience feeling intentionally disjointed and confused.

Oh, Canada is a vulnerable, reflective, heartfelt, and well made character study with great performances. I can see a lot of people not liking this and it’s not one of Paul Schrader’s best, but I liked it for what it was.