![](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/qlc4NdppWYVtbmmEyg7Nt4STCus=\/0x0:3000x2000\/1200x800\/filters:focal(1260x760:1740x1240)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/59792679\/first_reformed_A24_Ringer.0.jpg\")
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Reviewed by Helios Miller. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival.<\/p>\n
Journal Entry #13<\/b><\/p>\n
From Paul\u2019s perspective, this journal is my way to confide in the written word, a type of prayer. How will I edit myself? Am I afraid to lay spelling mistakes bear or is it unreasonable to think anyone will actually read this? Really the best I can say is \u201cMy god is that opening shot beautiful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The church\u2019s towering cross scrapes the sky for just a moment of sunshine, but that light will never come. The crisp silence with shake you out of your seat and leave you itching for one more moment of this film\u2019s square window into a pastor\u2019s life. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Watching this I can\u2019t help, but feel like I\u2019m being judged. As if something could go wrong at any moment, like we\u2019re watching our pastor balance on the edge of a knife. Maybe it\u2019s the church itself. Those tall white buildings have always creeped me out. But not being a member of a Western, Christian, or Protestant sense I wonder if it\u2019s more or less creepy for me than a follower. Really the only time I\u2019ve been in a church was for a funeral.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ll avoid mentioning any direct detail of this film. You should only watch this with a fresh mind, untainted by any review or trailer, however to get you in the theater I\u2019ll say this: While this film is slow, it has this comfortable quality with a bite. Like laying in the snow and realizing you can\u2019t feel the first inch of your skin. It should also be said that any attempt to predict this film will only leave you wrong or distracted from a good experience.<\/span><\/p>\n First Reformed\u2019s momentum is unstoppable, it\u2019s writing impeccable, and a third positive word ending in -able. From the same screenwriter as <\/span>Taxi Driver<\/span><\/i>, you\u2019re in good hands to see a quality film. When a Director writes and directs their work, they are putting everything they have into the belief that their film must be an exact way. It pays off as perception is key to this film\u2019s power. See this film in theaters if it\u2019s near and watch at home in the dark.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Helios Miller. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Journal Entry #13 From Paul\u2019s perspective, this journal is my way to confide in the written word, a type of prayer. How will I edit myself? Am I afraid to lay spelling mistakes bear or is it unreasonable to think anyone will actually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247009,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/247009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43633"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44377,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43633\/revisions\/44377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}