2018’s First Reformed,
written and directed by Paul Schrader.
Starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles,
Victoria Hill, Michael Gaston, and Bill Hoag.
What is it about?
First Reformed
stars Ethan Hawke as a Protestant priest residing over a 250 year old Dutch
Reformed Church. Pious but conflicted in his faith, Hawke has to contend with a
society continuing to lose interest in religion while he sorts through his own
cognitive dissonance. Elevating his troubles, is a couple that comes to him for
counselling due to an unwanted pregnancy, while Hawke sorts through personal medical
issues and the death of his own son. Will he be able to re-discover his faith, or
will he further add to a world already in turmoil?
Why is it worth seeing?
Paul Schrader’s modus operandi is making films about the
tortured cycle of existence that he propels his protagonists through. From
Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) to Wade
Whitehouse (Affliction) to Jesus Christ himself (The Last Temptation of Christ), salvation can feel like a pipe
dream when it comes to the violent ennui Schrader’s characters have to slog
through. As one of the best movies of the year, First Reformed is in the same vein, and possesses a tour de force
performance from Ethan Hawke, as a tortured priest who is already going through
a crisis when things get difficult. It’s in the journey we take with Hawke that
we get to experience a form of thoughtful catharsis.
Reformed is a step
upwards for Schrader as a writer/director, as through the typically difficult
subject matter he hyper focuses on are the mundane aspects of an examined life,
and a rare evolution of his talents emerges- subtlety. Underneath the
microscope, his subject’s soul withers and twists around the religious minutia
of guided tours, weekly sermons, alcoholism, and ad hoc counselling sessions. As
signposts, Schrader surrounds these events with the atmosphere of a planet
dying from climate change and degradation, along with the fading role of
religion in society and a traditional orthodoxy struggling to stay relevant.
But after the subtlety, we also introduce 2 more welcome
(however brief) characteristics to Schrader: fantasy, and ambiguity. The
fantasy is an interesting wrinkle (notwithstanding the entire concept of Tempation of Christ), as Reformed is so grounded as to imagine a
higher plane of existence seems far fetched (and that’s in a movie about a
priest!). As for the ambiguity, we only know by the climax that much has
changed- but nothing is certain or fixed.
As an artist, Hawke’s stock has never been higher, and it’s
because of performances such as displayed here. Hawke channels something in this
role never seen in his filmography before, as a man who’s affect is denial
stacked on top of denial, and his vocal variety only occasionally betrays the
image he wishes to convey in his priest’s public mask, which hides a deeply
conflicted person who’s faith is in serious jeopardy. Hawke is helped along by
a authentic performance from Amanda Seyfried, whose unpredictability is
delightful. The 2 of them are wonderful together, even if everything else in
their little world is collapsing.
With heavy themes nestled inside everyday settings,
Schrader’s faith based examination of why human beings choose to be alive has
amazing performances that couple nicely with the subtlety and ambiguity
displayed. First Reformed takes no
prisoners with its straight forwards approach, and in its climax has as much to hope for as
there is to worry about. It’s a mystery worth exploring.
No comments:
Post a Comment