First Reformed (2018)

Review

113min

Genre:       Drama, Thriller

Director:    Paul Schrader

Cast:         Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer…

Writer:       Paul Schrader

-Synopsis-

Dealing with his own personal tragedy, existential concerns and the demons of his flock, a small town New York priest struggles with a crisis of conscience in a world he no longer understands, in this tense contemporary drama from the writer of ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Raging Bull’.

It’s been over four decades since Paul Schrader began crafting gritty confronting human dramas and socially reflective stories for the silver screen, penning classics which helped Martin Scorsese reach cinematic immortality, while helming his own bold and memorable pictures and challenging American sexual hang-ups with crime thrillers like ‘American Gigolo’ and ‘Hardcore’. Now after twenty years of directorial efforts of varying quality and limited impact, the Michigan filmmaker returns to form—writing and directing a pensive and nuanced yet confronting human drama, straddling religious and socio-political themes but defined by a deeply flawed human heart at its core, reflecting the world around it . . . and indeed us.

Ethan Hawke stars as ‘Reverend Toller’, a former military chaplain and local priest at small suburban New York state church, internally reeling from the death of his soldier son and the subsequent collapse of his marriage, occupying his troubled mind with a daily routine and seeking the council of community pillar ‘Reverend Jeffers’ (Cedric the Entertainer), whilst keeping a private journal of his thoughts . . . and turning to the bottle. When a member of his congregation ‘Mary’ (Amanda Seyfried) comes to him with concerns about her radical environmentalist husband ‘Michael’ (Philip Ettinger), the troubled priest is plunged deeper into an existential quandary which threatens to destroy the humble life he has rebuilt—yet also forges an unexpected bond . . . and perhaps a glimmer of hope through the darkness.

Given his history of penning and directing gritty and occasionally provocative human dramas and crime thrillers, often violent and sexual in nature, ‘First Reformed’ is undoubtedly Schrader’s most nuanced and restrained picture in quite a while. A religious drama which is neither pious nor dogmatic, and is ultimately more of a contemplative character piece than anything else—‘First Reformed’ hangs heavy with the burden of an uncertain world and the collective guilt of those who live in it.

In this meditation on sacrifice and life’s tentative balance between despair and hope, the story hinges on the central performance, and Schrader’s lead certainly doesn’t disappoint. Indie film stalwart and studio cinema veteran Ethan Hawke delivers one of his most nuanced and emotionally restrained roles to date, pensive and stoic on the surface but raging inside, with the constant threat of tipping over into despair—and with a distinct and probably deliberate Bickle-esque feel.

He’s well supported by an array of smaller but crucial performances, with American comedy star Cedric the Entertainer surprising us with his turn as the jovial but business-minded senior pastor, while Amanda Seyfried adds another solid performance to her growing and eclectic filmography, bringing her endearing charms to perhaps the only ‘pure’ and redemptive character in the piece—and the lynchpin around which the story turns on its head . . . more than once.

Whilst it may not boast the cultural punch or the gritty edge of his iconic earlier work, ‘First Reformed’ has been fairly dubbed Paul Schrader’s best movie in many a year—even despite an occasional snail’s pace and an-out-of place metaphysical journey scene. A film whose title refers not only to its religious setting but also serves as a hopeful proclamation of self-change for the masses, this is sombre but ultimately optimistic human drama for a fractured and decaying modern world, but with a traditional look and feel which makes it timeless—and a memorable if not quite unforgettable rumination on the sacrifices we all make . . . and the crosses we must bear for life to go on.

The Bottom Line…

Paul Schrader’s return to form comes in the unlikely package of a nuanced and contemplative human drama, but also in the familiar form of a stark social drama which reflects its time . . . and the collective angst of the audience. ‘First Reformed’ is a restrained but tense and engrossing meditation on life’s tentative balance between hope and despair—moody, well-crafted, and held together by one of the finest performances of Ethan Hawke’s prolific and eclectic career.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Calvary (2014)

The life of a good small-town Catholic priest on the rural coast of Ireland is thrown into turmoil when his life is threatened anonymously during confession, as the day of his impending doom approaches he is confronted by the dark nature of those around him and the sins of his own religion while trying to retain his faith and dignity in a darkly comic drama from the makers of ‘The Guard’ and ‘In Bruges’.

Directed by John Michael McDonagh anss starring Brendan Gleeson, Kelly Reilly and Chris O’Dowd among others.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.