Delayed Reaction: First Reformed

The Pitch: You get to watch Ethan Hawke grimace as a reverend for 2 hours.

A reverend has an extreme crisis of faith after trying to help the husband of a woman from his church.

Let me start by admitting that I missed some of the appeal here. It's a critical favorite this year and might even work its way into the Oscar discussion. I don't really see why.

Let's start with Paul Schrader. He wrote and directed this movie. I've been hearing a lot of discussion about him lately like he's one of the great overlooked masters of cinema. I don't know if I buy that. Sure, he wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Would those be so great without Scorsese though? As a director, he made American Gigolo and Affliction. However he also directed The Canyons (yikes). His filmography doesn't scream "he's due" like, say, "Spike Lee has never been nominated for Director or Best Picture" does. First Reformed is a hauntingly directed movie. It has some stunning cinematography and the "magical mystery tour" scene is enchantingly meditative. I didn't dislike this movie. I'm simply not convinced that Schrader has years of goodwill built up.

Perhaps people are really in love with Ethan Hawke. Hawke never really went away. He's worked steadily since he broke out almost 30 years ago in Dead Poet's Society. Since Before Midnight in 2013 though, he's been on a tear. I feel like he shows up in everything: horror (The Purge), experimental drama (Boyhood), small SciFi (Predestination), big SciFi (Valerian), westerns (The Magnificent Seven), RomComs (Juliet, Naked). He's quietly built a collection of Oscar nominations, but he's due a Lead Actor nomination (if not a win) eventually. He is quite great in First Reformed. He spends a lot of the movie working along side his own narration. That narration feels necessary to the movie, not just a narrative shortcut. He wears all his emotions (grief, pain, confusion, anger, fatigue) on his face. I can't call it career best work, only because the Before series is such an accomplishment, but it is damn good work.

The story is where the movie loses me the most. It does make more of sense if I repeat in my head "He also wrote Taxi Driver" throughout. Because, Hawke's Toller really is just a theological Travis Bickle. Instead of cleaning up the streets, he wants to clean up the world. Even with that understanding, the ending I just plain don't get. His plan, which was half-baked to begin with, falls apart. So, he moves to self-harm. Pretty extreme self-harm. When Amanda Seyfried shows up, I kept waiting to find out that it was his imagination. I suppose I could still read it that way. And it abruptly ends. I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from that.

At first, I was annoyed by all the global warming/destruction of the Earth stuff. I don't like heavy-handed messaging like that. However, after a while, I realized how intentional that was. The destruction of the Earth is a chosen obsession. It's like Bruce Dern's quest to collect his sweepstakes prize in Nebraska or the Catalina Wine Mixer in Step Brothers. It's the thing that Toller distracts himself with to ignore his more immediate issues. I like how Schrader handles all that, even though, ultimately, I don't thinks it amounts to anything.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend