First Reformed. 2018. USA. Directed by Paul Schrader. 113 min.
Fearing that his own brand of morally committed, intellectually rigorous theology has been rendered irrelevant by the feel-good bromides of the modern megachurch, the pastor of a small congregation in upstate New York (Ethan Hawke) finds himself unable to counsel a young woman (Amanda Seyfried) whose husband, a radical environmentalist, may be contemplating a murderous act of protest. Returning to the austere, locked-down style of his early films, the writer-director Paul Schrader has created a work of rare power and fierce intelligence. Courtesy of A24 Films