Hollywood is buzzing about a new movie that’s captivating audiences, opening last weekend to $15 million in box office receipts and 2,000 sold-out shows in 800 theaters. That would be a weak opening for a heavily hyped superhero movie, but “You Can See Everything” is a documentary.
That’s the best opening performance by a documentary since Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” back in 2002, and it has insiders touting it as an Oscar contender – not just for Best Documentary but even as Best Picture. It would be the first documentary every nominated for the top award.
The film is about fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, who convinced dozens of high-flying investors she invented a device that could run hundreds of tests on a single drop of blood. Nathan Fielder, who made his name as a comedian, interviewed her extensively in the weeks before she began serving an 11-year sentence, but her husband/business partner Billy Evans and actress Amanda Seyfried, who played Holmes in a TV miniseries, also get a lot of screen time.
“You Can See Everything” has a 97% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman called it a “reality-TV-as-hangout-movie psychodrama circus [that] overlaps reality, performance, deception, and mental illness until it brings you into the enigmatic space where all those things meet.” It opens nationwide this weekend, and the advertising, like the film itself, shows an extreme close-up of Holmes’ wide blue eyes. Her unblinking gaze has been widely mocked by comedians like Josh Johnson.
Lou Reed wrote “Pale Blue Eyes” in 1965 but didn’t record it until 1969, after John Cale was fired from the band and replaced by Doug Yule. The album’s quieter atmosphere was a surprising departure from the abrasive sound of their previous LP, “White Light/White Heat,” but like the rest of the band’s output it failed to sell.
Several artists have covered the tune. Probably the best known is R.E.M.’s, released as a B-side in 1984 and on its 1987 collection of B-sides and demos, “Dead Letter Office.”
