First Reformed is peak Paul Schrader. Part character study of a man in spiritual meltdown looking for redemption (Taxi Driver, American Gigolo), part expressionist treatise on inner turmoil (Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters) and part ’70s exploitation film (Dying Of The Light, Dog Eat Dog), the writer-director takes the issues that have suffused his entire career and makes them fresh for the 21st century. It’s uncompromising and difficult, but marks a return to blistering form for one of US cinema’s most personal, powerful voices.
In possibly a career high, Ethan Hawke is superb as Father Toller, who presides over a church deemed more of a “souvenir shop”, soon celebrating its 250th anniversary. He is a classic Schrader anti-hero, a solitary man who drinks too much, dealing with personal tragedy, suffering with cancer and riddled with doubts (shared in heavy voiceover). His conflicts are exacerbated when pregnant parishioner Mary (Seyfried) invites him to speak with her despairing husband Michael (Ettinger). Michael is a radical environmentalist and — in a lengthy theological debate with Toller — explains how he “cannot sanction” bringing a child into such a fucked-up world. The subsequent question, “Will God forgive us?”, percolates in Toller’s mind. Compounded by his illness and the celebrations of his church being bankrolled by a corrupt oil company, his religious resolve is tested. A once holy man contemplates a decidedly unholy act.
One of Schrader’s big touchstones has always been Robert Bresson’s Diary Of A Country Priest and this is this most obvert iteration yet. Shot in a square 1:37:1 aspect ratio, Schrader’s film is austere, documenting Toller’s daily ritual and struggles in cold, deliberate beats. Yet, as the film moves on, the script and style gets more intense. An intimate moment between Toller and Mary turns into a literal flight of fantasy through the cosmos then over ecological disaster zones. And, as Toller starts on a perverse act of salvation, the film jumps into a whole new zone of grindhouse madness played out to the hymn ‘Leaning On The Everlasting Arms’.
Toller’s introverted life is played off against Father Jeffers, the pastor of a more popular church, played perfectly by Cedric The Entertainer, billed here as Cedric Kyles — this is too serious a film for such frippery. Seyfried provides the story’s soul, but this is Hawke’s film. Convincing as a man of the cloth, he finds colours of compassion, guilt and discontent all bubbling to unforgettable anger, an Oscar front-runner. Fingers crossed the Academy have long memories.
