Film
First Reformed
- Director
- Paul Schrader
- Certificate
- 15
- Running Time
- 113 mins
If you’re old enough to remember the seventies and eighties, you’ll know that Paul Schrader was once the toast of the arthouse crowd thanks to his collaborations with Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ) and films such as American Gigolo and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, in which he pretty much cornered the market in cinematic sin, guilt and redemption. These days, he’s reduced to helming those weekly Nicolas Cage action movies (the disastrous Dying of the Light and reasonably entertaining Dog Eat Dog).
First Reformed is being billed as his big comeback and something of a return to familiar thematic territory. Ethan Hawke stars as a former military pastor struggling with guilt over the death of his son, whom he encouraged to enlist, while serving in Iraq. Cue: full-on crisis of faith when a parishoner (Amanda Seyfried) begs him to counsel her eco-activist hubby, who’s being driven to suicide by the state of the planet. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with some critics citing First Reformed as the quintessential Schrader flick.
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