Loved You Can See Everything? Thank Canada
The Elizabeth Holmes doc is vying for top spot at the Oscars.
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doc → love → Oscars
A number of Canadian names got it there
If you're aware of Nathan Fielder, you're probably aware he, in his resoundingly patriotic words, "graduated from one of Canada's top business schools with really good grades."
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he → get → grades
Which — despite the intentionally ridiculous way it's read out in the intro to his show Nathan for You — is true: The Canadian comedian really did get his bachelor of commerce at the University of Victoria, before eventually transitioning to that show, known for its farcically absurd business advice.
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comedian → read → advice
It might seem random to connect Canadian business school with obsessive investigations and near-incomparable success.
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It → seem → investigations
But that background established a pattern for the Vancouver-born Fielder.
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background → establish → Fielder
Since the earliest days of his comedy career, Fielder has built what basically amounts to an entire field of study around the fickle nature of truth.
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what → build → truth
Practically all his work has been undergirded by this concept, from his early days at CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes to the more mind-bendingly bizarre The Curse and The Rehearsal and all the way to the world's hottest documentary right now: the Elizabeth Holmes-focused You Can See Everything, which released last Friday.
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which → undergird → Everything
But as odd as those releases seem, they have created something of a cottage industry around Fielder, and the belief he is turning the format of documentary on its head.
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he → seem → head
The film's run-and-gun-style employed an incredibly small team of roughly seven on-site crew members, a significant number of which, like Fielder, hail from Canada.
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number → employ → Canada
And given the tradition of documentary in this country — as well as the fact that this time, he's not doing it alone — the movie's success may not seem so odd after all.
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success → give → it
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes appears in a still from Nathan Fielder's mindbending documentary You Can See Everything.
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You → appear → Everything
The most prominent Canadian of You Can See Everything is, of course, Fielder himself.
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You → see → course
He first rose to fame with his show, Nathan for You, a Comedy Central expansion of a segment that he established on 22 Minutes.
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he → rise → Minutes
That series was what led the documentary's co-director, Lance Oppenheim, to approach Fielder about working on a project together in the first place, according to an interview with Vulture.
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what → lead → Vulture
From there, Oppenheim and Fielder brought in their respective collaborators.
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Oppenheim → bring → collaborators
On Fielder's end, that included Adam Locke-Norton, the editor with whom he first collaborated for shorts like Morris, Flashback and Eves, released on YouTube in 2006.
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he → include → 2006
Meanwhile, Oppenheim brought in his own team, supported by the Great White North.
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Oppenheim → bring → North
That included Ottawa-born producer Tatiana Bears, who told CBC News she flew to the location just 24 hours after getting Oppenheim's call to start shooting.
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she → include → call
There was also director of photography David Bolen, a Toronto native who was the cinematographer for Oppenheim's narrative debut Primetime and his prior, self-styled "documentary fantasy" creations Spermworld and Some Kind of Heaven.
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who → be → Heaven
Bolen's camera was a particularly mind-bending aspect of You Can See Everything, fuelling much of its Oscars buzz.
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You → bend → buzz
- REVIEW
Nathan Fielder's You Can See Everything gazes into the abyss of Elizabeth Holmes
Director Alex Gibney on terrifying Musk documentary: 'It's not a funeral; it's a warning'
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it → see → documentary
Further down the line, there are more names: Saskatchewan's Katina Danabassis was in charge of costuming.
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Danabassis → be → costuming
Described by Vogue Philippines as "one of A24’s most radical collaborators," her oeuvre stretches from fellow Canadian Celine Song's Materialists and Past Lives to Fielder's The Curse, as well as this year's The Drama.
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oeuvre → describe → Curse
And then Ontario filmmaker Stephen Coleman — who previously worked on A24 projects Materialists, The Drama and the upcoming Jesse Eisenberg film The Debut — lent his hand as second assistant director.
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who → work → director
They are now among those listed in A24's "for your consideration" Oscars campaign: Danabassis for best costume design, Bolen for best cinematography, Bears for the coveted best picture and Locke-Norton for best editing.
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They → list → editing
Fielder and Oppenheim are submitted for best director.
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Fielder → submit → director
A24 is also submitting You Can See Everything in the documentary category, but it may be angling for a record with best picture: If successful, it would become the first documentary to garner a nomination in that category.
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it → submit → category
Canadians in Hollywood
Canadians finding their way into Hollywood productions is by no means a new phenomenon.
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finding → find → means
The United States has offered a fertile and appetizing landing pad to well-trained anglophone Canadian creatives without a thriving homegrown industry of their own.
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States → offer → own
But A24, which funded You Can See Everything, has been establishing itself as both a home for, and source of, Canadian talent.
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You → fund → home
The distribution studio behind films like Backrooms, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Moonlight is infamously experimental, having enough faith in Fielder's vision that it signed a contract allowing him to cancel the project at any time, consequence-free.
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him → have → time
Early this year, the studio released Undertone, the ultra low-budget, Toronto-shot horror from Montreal director Ian Tuason that earned more than $20 million US worldwide.
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that → release → US
It also nabbed the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony, directed by Canada's Matt Johnson.
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It → nab → Johnson
That film had a surprisingly strong $5-million US wide debut, following a prior limited release, and eventually grossed nearly $20 million US worldwide.
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film → have → US
Along with a perceived shift away from risk-taking indie fare, A24 was recently in hot water over pulling the Canadian-directed Tony from an independent Toronto theatre over a "clearance issue."
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A24 → perceive → issue
That practice, orchestrated and overseen by distributors but kept alive by large cinema chains' superior market share, keeps smaller theatres from being able to play the same film as nearby larger ones.
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practice → orchestrate → ones
Still, a supposed turn to Canadian talent could make awards sense.
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turn → suppose → sense
And when it comes to success at the Academy, there is one place Canada has historically shown considerable strength: the world of documentary filmmaking.
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Canada → come → filmmaking
The term "documentary" itself was coined by critic John Grierson in 1926, who would go on to create Canada's National Film Board.
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who → coin → Board
Meanwhile, the Quebec-set 1922 film Nanook of the North is widely cited as the first feature-length documentary.
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film → set → documentary
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
