First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2017): USA

Reviewed by William Edwards at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The newest film by acclaimed director Paul Shrader opened at the Santa Barbara Film festival with much aclaim and deservedly so.  It was slow moving but powerfully evocative as it claims it’s rightful heir to such classics as Taxi Driver, which it uses as something of an existential blueprint.

It’s the story of a Reverend Toller played dutifully by Ethan Hawks, who was at one point a lifetime soldier who went through a personal tragedy, since his own soon died at war in which case, his marriage failed.  Not knowing where to go with his life, he was, through influence by an authority he admired, was influenced into becoming a clergyman which he did have a natural gift towards.   Throughout the movie he was very clear in his understanding of scripture and was certainly empathic.  However, the demons he held from the past were so evident that he drank, wrote honest self-deprecating pronouncement and had difficulty praying.

Needless to say this problem brought itself into the narrative by the infuence of a married couple of his flock, played by Amanda Seyfriend and Philip Ettinger, who influenced him to reassess himself and his place in the world.  This narrative did have obvious ties to Taxi Driver and retread earlier grounds with such themes as political involvement, the important of the world and the dark depravity of the human condition.  However, this movie was something quite different.  It was as if the writer matured and wrote the same themes with more imaginative power and understanding.

What we get here is a stirring, dramatic script which reveals the longing and the need to transform one’s life in a way that finds some meaning in a world with obvious problems and limitation.  Even an impure soul can find ways to connect and find value through through intentional participation in life with some hope for understanding and reconciliation.

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Published:
02.04.19 / 10am
Category:
Films, Santa Barbara Film Festival 2019