You Can See Everything
★★★★★
I somehow missed Nathan for You when it first aired, but quickly became enamored with Nathan Fielder’s unique documentary style when The Rehearsal debuted. To say that he has a unique way of looking at the world is an understatement, and his mix of dark humor and genre-bending rules has made me fascinated with all his work. Even something like the narrative television show The Curse, which received mixed reviews, I believe is borderline genius.
If he felt like he hadn’t made a name for himself yet, the quick success of You Can See Everything will surely vault him into cinematic lore. There is already talk of it becoming the first documentary to be nominated for Best Picture, and deservedly so. What makes Fielder’s work so different is that he explores societal norms and breaks them down into such tiny pieces that you begin to question how they were built up in the first place. All the while, he uses the form to paint a character of himself where you’re never quite sure if you’re seeing Fielder the man or Fielder the character.
Which makes spending significant time with the infamous Elizabeth Holmes, before she begins her prison sentence for defrauding investors through her company, Theranos, a fascinating choice for a feature documentary. Schemer A, please meet Schemer B.
When a film comes with the warning, “Avoid any kind of spoilers before seeing the movie,” it can feel like a brilliant marketing ploy, but in this case, it's deserved. You don’t have to be familiar with Nathan Fielder to understand his style and approach. You quickly realize that he’s willing to ask the questions most people won’t, but he’s also willing to embed himself in his subject’s world, which he certainly does here by actually living with Holmes and her family for several weeks.
You Can See Everything quickly becomes a study of perspective and preconceived notions. Who is playing whom? The story of this family slowly unravels into a cat-and-mouse game that eclipses most crime stories. The film touches on everything from language and politics to gender dynamics, motherhood and intent, to the point where you aren’t sure which way is up, but in all the right ways.
What will likely be overshadowed by the story itself is the captivating cinematography. Directed by both Fielder and heralded documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, the two choose to shoot in such extreme close-ups that they make you intimately uncomfortable. Never has so much been said by an intense gaze. Eyeballs themselves should be nominated for an Oscar for their work in this film.
The shots are so close on a subject that when two people are talking, you often don’t see them in the same frame, which only adds to the disorienting effect. The two filmmakers also choose to shoot in almost constant natural light, adding to the intimacy and sense of seclusion that surrounds Holmes in her final days as a free woman.
I, too, am going to fall into the camp of saying that the less you know about this movie going in, the better. You Can See Everything is a wonderful feat of filmmaking that will provoke conversations for days. About relationships. About intent. About business. About politics. About the filmmaking process itself.
That’s why I love the documentary form, and this film arrives at a time when audiences seem more accepting of the genre than ever. But the fact that you'll come out questioning the form itself has to make Fielder giddy with excitement.
Truth is stranger than fiction. Or is it?
