Review of First Reformed (2018) by Andrewburge — 21 Aug 2018

Bleak, patient and narrative, 'First Reformed' is one hell of a tough film to review. It hides away from you in an attempt to elevate its art to near poetry. And it succeeds. Writer/director Paul Schrader teams up with Ethan Hawke, who gives the performance of his career as Reverend Ernst Toller, a small town priest whose faith is put to the test, having his doubts manifested in a riveting, albeit tame manner.

The script is dominated by a beautiful narrative. Toller indulges in an experiment to keep a journal for a year and then destroy it. We get the impression he is looking for closure, and very soon we find out why. He suffers from a disease which is never fully shown to us, but given the fact that he urinates blood and that he can barely stand, it must be bad. This is the weird but brilliant structure of the narrative. It says a lot, but it never disclosures more than it needs to. Schrader does not use it to advance the plot, but rather to engulf us deeper into the mind of Ernst Toller, who constantly grapples with faith, isolation, regret and despair in the modern world.

Despair, most of all. One of the very first scenes includes a captivating discussion between him and Michael (Philip Ettinger), a troubled environmentalist who lost his faith in society. He babbles continuously about an environmental fallout and his wife, Mary (Amanda Seyfried) called the reverend to help him. This scene is especially captivating as it is the first one where we witness Schrader's incredibly bleak and silent cinema. It is too quiet in there. A quiet which is brilliantly maximized by the beating of the clock.

This bleakness spreads through the entire picture, which is accompanied by no music, except occasional crescent rumbles, often accompanied by beautiful and depressing shots of industrialism. It also helps that this film was filmed in a classic 4:3 aspect ratio which, at first, I found irrelevant, but it offers some truly picturesque imagery.

So, while 'First Reformed' might be a bit controlling and chastised, it is mind bending, slightly shocking and purgatorial.