First Reformed

2018 religious movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A priest deals with personal demons, ones that intensify when he's shocked by the actions of a depressed activist he's counseling. It all threatens the success of the 250th birthday celebration of the Albany church he heads.

With Paul Schrader, a writer/director who wrote a book on movies with a "transcendental style" and wrote Taxi Driver, you might expect this to be like a Carl Dreyer movie with Travis Bickle as the protagonist. And your expectation would be very close to spot on. This drama, with plenty of sharp comedic touches, is slow without any single second of its running time being boring. It's got a tortured character taking on worldly forces of evil in a lopsided battle. He even gets himself a memorable mirror scene.

Schrader is clearly ripping himself off a little, and he also borrows from other masters. I wouldn't want to give too much away, and there are likely a lot more film references that I just don't have the expertise or memory to catch, but it's clear he's painting with borrowed brushes. I mean, there's one magically realistic moment that recalls Tarkovsky and 2001: A Space Odyssey simultaneously. But it's all put together so masterfully, that it doesn't matter. Schrader could have ripped off every single frame, and I still wouldn't care. So much of this is the kind of movie experience that will haunt your waking thoughts--the strangely chilling opening pan showing an imposing church, the dizzying beauty of the final shot and the abrupt ending that made me think the theater was experiencing technical difficulties, a new addition to a wardrobe, a second new addition to a wardrobe, that aforementioned scene of magical realism, a lengthy conversation, a startling discovery, a concoction, a recurring shot of a ship's mast that might remind even a heathen of a religious symbol, horrifying urine. And there are all these little touches--one-size-fits-all hats, etc.--that add this whole other layer of brilliance.

The Drano product placement--I hope the movie was almost entirely financed by the inclusion of Drano.

Ethan Hawke's character is terrifically textured. His character's struggles make you want to root for him even when you know he's not in his right mind. The more you find out about this character, the less you know about what he really believes and what he really wants and what pushes him. And the more you realize that he doesn't have a chance against the outside forces, all these specific and general demons, that he's up against. This is not a performance that I would have thought Hawke had in him ten years ago when I first started writing poorly about movies, but there is some real wisdom and maturity and refinement and focus and control with this performance. I hope he's considered for Best Actor.

I want to stress that this movie isn't just a complete downer. There's quite a bit of humor mixed in with the drama. Hell, Cedric the Entertainer is in the movie.