From its very first minute, First Reformed, from the longest-working man in show biz, Paul Schrader,
is never not engaging. The filmmaker responsible for writing Taxi Driver, Hardcore, and Raging Bullmay not have made a film this engaging since 1997’s Affliction. It’s also very unusually
made, with the director choosing a 4×3 aspect ratio, a direct call back to a
primitive era of film, and very very
rarely moving the camera. Except for the gorgeous opening shot, which slowly
tracks from the bottom of red-brick steps to the front doors of an old Dutch
Colonial church, every shot is static, and they can go on and on without a
break in action or dialogue. Oftentimes, if someone calls a film “point and
shoot,” that person means the film lacks identity or style, and that the
director is workman-like without a sense of making the story come to life with
visual flourish. First Reformed purposely goes for the point and shoot
aesthetic, but Schrader uses the style to maximum effect, manifesting Father
Toller’s growing indifference, isolation, frustration, and severe battle with
his faith.
Speaking of, Ethan Hawke has gone
from being an actor that I was too quick to dismiss to one of my absolute
favorites. Interviews with him (like the one included on this release) show him
to be a very pensive, thoughtful, and likable actor who enjoys genre-hopping in
an effort to play different kinds of characters in different kinds of
situations. For a long time I held high that his work in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy was his best, but then First Reformed came along and left me
in total awe of his talent. It’s his work in this that’s made me realize the
actor doesn’t receive nearly the amount of accolades he deserves. His work here
is staggering, and an absolute career high. The archetype of the priest
struggling with his faith isn’t a new concept, but when you’ve got Paul
Schrader behind that archetype’s tweaking and finessing, turning him into a
somewhat of a Travis Bickle character, it absolutely opens up the character
into something new.
In a sense, First
Reformed is a fantastic companion
piece to Schrader’s Taxi Driver: two
men, at odds with society, become seduced by the idea of shaking up that
society and putting an end to the evil and sickness that plagues our world at
large. Travis Bickle drives taxi cabs and Father Toller presides over thinly
attended masses and is forced to serve as a surrogate tour guide for his famous
Underground Railroad church, but both men suffer the same disillusionment and
horror with their world and both men, perhaps not all there, want to do
something about it. The film also contains aspects of Calvinism, to which
Schrader subscribes, and which also appeared in a more obvious form throughout
Schrader’s Hardcore. Given its
religious themes, one might assume that Schrader is lampooning or satirizing
religion at large, but that’s not really the case here. Schrader, instead, is
telling a story similar to ones he’s told in the past and imbuing a lot of
shared themes of loneliness to the point of mental detriment, but this time it
just so happens to be a priest. That sounds like Schrader side-stepping a
larger potential, but just the opposite: he’s smart enough to not take the easy
bait.
First Reformed is very unusually made, and its very pro-environmental
message, even though it has a great deal of reason to be there given its story,
will probably turn off some audiences, as they don’t mind being preached to up
to a certain extent. First Reformed
willfully and purposely ups the preaching levels, and for dual purposes: to
enhance and justify Father Toller’s descent into radicalism, and to enforce
upon the viewing audience: we’re very very close to being eternally fucked. First Reformed will scare you in more
than one way, and regardless of how you feel about the film by its end, it’s a
long-term unshakeable experience.
Paul Schrader is 72, and has just
delivered among the best films in his directorial career.
