You Can See Everything

A participant in Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary, You Can See Everything says at the end of the film, "It's very complicated." This is the perfect summation. When I saw the trailer for the film a few months back, I knew nothing about Elizabeth Holmes, the self-made billionaire who lost everything and was sentenced to eleven years in prison for defrauding investors. Holmes wanted to create a machine that could analyse a single drop of blood and tell you everything about your condition - sounds like something out of Star Trek. Turns out, it is. It may be decades yet before something like this could exist. Holmes promised it and didn't deliver. The Dropout is an eight-part Hulu miniseries about Holmes and the rise and fall of her business, with Amanda Seyfried playing Holmes. Seyfried won a Critics Choice Award, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe Award for her performance (along with a few others). I watched this miniseries and the HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. It was pretty clear to me that Holmes was guilty and should definitely be going to prison.

We start You Can See Everything with Nathan Fielder interviewing and eventually moving in with Holmes, her partner, and their two young kids just over a month before Holmes was to begin her prison term.  Fielder and Oppenheim like to keep the camera close - I haven't seen so many close-ups since Sergio Leone. There is an intimacy created with the subjects because of it. Fielder holds his gaze after he asks a question like he is trying to figure out a puzzle. There is something performative in his lines of questioning. The whole thing feels like performance art. Very small spoiler here: Fielder asks Holmes to watch The Dropout with him. She had never watched it before. That alone is something which is rather meta - us watching Holmes watch Seyfried play a version of her and Holmes reacting to it. It's worth to note that Holmes maintains her innocence, that she never lied about her blood machine. Then the film takes a turn that I will not spoil. It's both transgressive and humorous. You have to see it to believe it. It has stuck with me since I watched it. It's three hours long but it felt like two. I sure it will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and it will no doubt win for Best Documentary Feature. It may even win both. One of my favourite films of the year. Catch this in theatres now. Rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.