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First Reformed

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First Reformed

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Summary

The minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with a sense of mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past. Drama, starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric Antonio Kyles - better known as Cedric the Entertainer

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Andrew Collins

Since Paul Schrader's searing 1970s landmarks as a screenwriter (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and director (Blue Collar, Hardcore), fans have been hankering for a true return to form for the critic turned film-maker. This restrained but powerful contemporary drama about a crossroads reached by self-medicating Father Toller (Ethan Hawke), who tends to a small flock in an Albany, New York church, is that return. Hawke's former army chaplain is no clichéd "whiskey priest"; he's kind, open and thoughtful, despite being in physical pain, which he absorbs as penance for past sins. When Amanda Seyfried's pregnant church-goer asks him to counsel her angry, eco-activist husband (a breakthrough performance from Philip Ettinger), he questions not just his own conscience but the church itself - it's become a local tourist attraction that sells souvenir baseball caps. Schrader maintains masterly control of the material and his intelligent cast (Cedric Kyles drops "the Entertainer" to play the pastor of a donation-reliant megachurch), thanks to long, fixed-camera scenes. Toller's inner life plays out in narrated, ascetic vignettes in a virtually furniture-free house. Meanwhile, a low, ambient score delivers us to a late tonal jack-knife that hints at Schrader's earlier triumphs.

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7.1/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameReverend Ernst TollerEthan HawkeMaryAmanda SeyfriedReverend Joel JeffersCedric the Entertainer Edward BalqMichael GastonEstherVictoria HillMichaelPhilip Ettinger

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Crew

rolenameDirectorPaul Schrader

Details

Theatrical distributor

Picturehouse

Released on

2018-07-13

Languages

English

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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