First Reformed is a movie about religion. It is about big business and the environmental destruction of which they are to blame. It is about a willingness of the Church to turn a blind eye in the face of sin. It is about love. It is about hope. But these subjects fall away as Paul Schrader tightens his focus onto a detached pastor. An unnerving and bleak look into the despair that can envelope the most faithful or the most hopeful, Ethan Hawke's brutally honest presentation of an unsure and resentful man along with foreboding gray scaled cinematography leaves the audience asking: But what of man? What of this broken man in particular? Why does man fear their own destruction so greatly that they are willing to end their life before that destruction could take them? Paul Schrader's newest film may be shrouded in politics, religion, or the philosophy of love, faith, or hope, but behind the obvious horror lies the subconscious dread. Not the existential dread of living in an imperfect and devastating world, but the fear of how oneself will react to the overwhelming despair of a reality with little hope.
Review of First Reformed
