Comedian and filmmaker Nathan Fielder just pulled off one of the rarest things in movie marketing: an actual surprise.
His new documentary, You Can See Everything, premiered as a secret screening, and now it’s already generating major buzz ahead of its theatrical release.
The film marks Nathan Fielder’s feature directorial debut, co-directed alongside Primetime director Lance Oppenheim.
(You Can See Everything via A24)
Also read about: Labubu Is Getting Its Own Movie With Wonka Director Paul King Attached
What the Documentary Is About
You Can See Everything follows Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, beginning 34 days before she reported to federal prison for defrauding investors at her company which promised groundbreaking blood-testing, but didn’t deliver on its claims.
Elizabeth Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, invited the film crew into their San Diego home for the project, which wound up spanning three years, and continued well after she began serving her sentence.
The film starts as an intimate protract but gradually turns into something much weirder, with the lines blurring between documentary, performance and reality TV, with a new trailer that makes it feel like a psychological thriller.
If you’ve seen The Rehearsal on HBO, you already know that this is Nathan Fielder’s expertise.
How the Premiere Went Down
The film debuted as the Telluride Film Festival’s secret screening on Sep. 6, with no advance warning of what audiences were about to see.
Its first teaser trailer showed Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes locking eyes as she insisted on her own sincerity.
“I don’t have anything to deceive you on, of course I’m not deceiving you,” she tells him in the clip, while the mood seems to suggest the opposite.
What Critics Are Saying
Reactions out of Telluride have been intense, with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman describing it as “a one-of-a-kind reality-TV-as-hangout-movie psychodrama circus.”
At 174 minutes, the film has been called one of the strangest and most unpredictable documentaries in recent memory, shifting focus dramatically partway through when a surprise subject enters the story.
Also read about: Everything to Know About Netflix’s Steps, a Cinderella Story Retold
Nathan Fielder’s Track Record
Nathan Fielder is best known for his shows Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, both built around his signature deadpan, boundary-pushing style of comedy.
Lance Oppenheim previously directed Some Kind of Heaven and this year’s Robert Pattinson-led Primetime, premiering to strong reviews at the Venice Film Festival just weeks before this project’s debut.
Together, the two directors bring a strange but perfectly suited combination of skill sets to the project, blending Nathan Fielder’s comedic instincts with Lance Oppenheim’s more traditional documentary craftsmanship.
The Tellings of the Story
Elizabeth Holmes’ rise and fall was previously dramatized in Hulu’s The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried as the disgraced founder in a performance that earned widespread critical acclaim.
At one point in You Can See Everything, Nathan reportedly shows Elizabeth a clip from the series, and she’s unable to finish watching it.
Also read about: Inside the Star-Studded Sense and Sensibility London Premiere
When You Can See It
You Can See Everything hits theaters via A24 on Oct. 16., and we think it looks like one of the fall’s most unpredictable must-see releases.
For more on the movies we love, click HERE for first reactions to Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie.
