was on board with this, thank god. felt way more active in its direction than schrader’s last two films (admittedly 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

"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"

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).

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.

Wrapped OH CANADA tonight. I have not posted about it during filming because, although we had WGA and SAG waivers, there were rogue union members who sought to picket even legitimate productions and I had cast and crew members 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.

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.

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.

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

OH, CANADA is Paul Schrader’s reflective commentary on mortality, art, memory & regret. So why then does it feel so thin? At a brisk 95 minutes Schrader’s cross-cut narrative between Richard Gere on his deathbed & Jacob Elordi playing the younger version of this character bouncing from one relationship to the next gets lost along the way, dampening its emotional & thematic impact. Gere & Elordi deliver good performances but with more time and a fully fleshed-out script, they could’ve been great. Also, that “Citizen Kane” ending moment, while the Canadian national anthem plays in the background, made me laugh so hard.