Tag: Master Gardener

Oscar Predictions: Oh, Canada

Playing a dying documentary filmmaker recounting his life, on paper Oh, Canada sounds like the kind of project that could give 74-year-old Richard Gere his first Oscar nomination. It reunites the actor with his American Gigolo collaborator Paul Schrader some four and a half decades later. Schrader is adapting the Russell Banks novel, who also wrote Affliction. The director’s version of that source material resulted in Nick Nolte being up for Best Actor in 1998 and James Coburn winning Supporting Actor.

Canada premiered in France at Cannes. The supporting cast includes Jacob Elordi (playing Gere’s younger self), Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Victoria Hill, Penelope Mitchell, and Kristine Froseth.

There’s only a smattering of reviews and they’re mixed with a current 60% RT score. Schrader has been a busy man lately. 2018’s First Reformed nabbed him a nod for Best Original Screenplay (somehow his first). Follow-ups The Card Counter and Master Gardener were not on the radar of voters. It’s highly unlikely this will be either.

As for Gere, that acting nom should remain elusive. He was rather famously omitted for 2002’s Chicago, despite the movie taking Best Picture and four of his costars being recognized. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: Master Gardener

Despite penning the screenplays for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Paul Schrader somehow never got an Oscar nomination until his script for 2018’s First Reformed. That was the sole nod for that acclaimed effort as Schrader’s direction and Ethan Hawke’s central performance didn’t make the cut. Last year’s follow-up The Card Counter wasn’t an Academy player at all despite some decent critical reaction.

Schrader’s newest crime thriller is The Master Gardener which has premiered at Venice. Joel Edgerton stars as a horticulturist with a dark past. Sigourney Weaver and Quintessa Swindell costar. While there’s plenty of praise for Edgerton, the Rotten Tomatoes meter is at a middling 58%. If Counter (with an 87% RT score) couldn’t make a dent in the awards chatter, Gardener won’t either. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…