First Reformed (USA: Paul Schrader, 2017: 108 mins)
"Unless I miss my guess, “First Reformed” will find its least receptive audiences among those who want either a conventional psychological drama or a dogmatic exposition of spiritual themes. Neither is what Schrader’s after. From the first, style as a way of engendering spiritual consciousness has been his primary concern. In a welcome new edition of Transcendental Style, he writes of creating 'an alternate film reality—a transcendent one,” in which, “The filmmaker, rather than creating a world in which the viewer need only surrender … creates a world in which the spectator must contemplate—or reject out of hand.'
Will the film’s most appreciative viewers be those who know Schrader’s writings, his previous work and the great films whose influence he freely acknowledges? No doubt. Yet “First Reformed” leaves its large front door open to anyone who accepts its invitation to adopt a contemplative stance toward cinema. For those who do, the film’s peculiar mysteries and beauties will be evident throughout: in its restrained compositions and uses of silence and empty space, in the almost liturgical unfolding of its narrative, in a climactic scene of imaginary flight and a final scene that seems aptly designed to leave one catching one’s breath, caught in the very act of contemplating this tale of faith and its worldly opponents." - Godfrey Cheshire
"First Reformed marks a considerable turning point, a film à thèse about the struggle for grace and faith in our modern world of hyper-reality and despair, especially when the various stopgaps offered by society—organized religion, political institutions, ecological activism—seem variously counterfeit. A breathtaking, taut work possessed of an otherworldly meditative stillness, it feels at once hauntingly out of time and haltingly urgent. " - Best Films of the Decade
Ahmed, Nafees. "First Reformed (2018): Spiritual Collapse Under Crisis of Faith." High on Films (August 14, 2018)
Cheshire, Godfrey. "First Reformed." Roger Ebert (May 18, 2018)
"First Reformed." Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics (May 13, 2024) ["In a recent interview, Paul Schrader said he was lucky with Taxi Driver because he “caught the zeitgeist.” He may have done so again with First Reformed (2017), a film that reflects the age of extremism in which we now live. Join us for a long conversation about a person who might be called the “green Travis Bickle” and who trades in one religion for another, only to find that he can’t give his new set of beliefs as much as he thought he could. Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is an admirer of Thomas Merton; his renowned The Seven Story Mountain (1948) tells the story of his entering Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky."]
Funk, Carolyn. "One Shot / First Reformed." Notebook (February 19, 2025)
Funk, Carolyn. "One Shot / First Reformed." Notebook (February 19, 2025)
Hudson, David. "Venice + Toronto 2017: Schrader's First Reformed." The Current (August 30, 2017)
Phillips, Michael. "First Reformed filmmaker Paul Schrader on hope, despair and 'this odd moment we're in now.'" Chicago Tribune (May 22, 2018)
Schrader, Paul. "First Reformed." Film Comment Podcast (June 21, 2018) ["“Although religious symbols and themes have often found their way into Schrader’s film work, First Reformed marks the first time he has applied elements of transcendental style—as extolled in his seminal book Transcendental Style in Film—to his own filmmaking. Early in his career, Schrader was occupied with exploring the pathological lure of sex and violence in narrative cinema,” Aliza Ma wrote in her review of Paul Schrader’s First Reformed for our May/June issue. As part of our Film Comment Free Talks series, Schrader joined Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold for a conversation about the twists and turns and leaps in the writer-director’s career—from starting out as a critic and UCLA film student in the ’60s, to writing screenplays for Taxi Driver and Last Temptation of Christ, to directing films from Blue Collar through First Reformed."]
Schrader, Paul. "First Reformed." Film Comment Podcast (June 21, 2018) ["“Although religious symbols and themes have often found their way into Schrader’s film work, First Reformed marks the first time he has applied elements of transcendental style—as extolled in his seminal book Transcendental Style in Film—to his own filmmaking. Early in his career, Schrader was occupied with exploring the pathological lure of sex and violence in narrative cinema,” Aliza Ma wrote in her review of Paul Schrader’s First Reformed for our May/June issue. As part of our Film Comment Free Talks series, Schrader joined Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold for a conversation about the twists and turns and leaps in the writer-director’s career—from starting out as a critic and UCLA film student in the ’60s, to writing screenplays for Taxi Driver and Last Temptation of Christ, to directing films from Blue Collar through First Reformed."]
Silent Dawn. "First Reformed." Letterboxd (June 9, 2018) ["The Agony and the Ecstasy - Paul Schrader’s First Reformed abides by the two. A responsibility of selflessness, compassion, and community conflicts with the desire to understand oneself, to become impersonal for the sake of solace. Reverend Toller finds the worst in both extremes – a sobering discovery in modern times. His fortress, or his homestead, mountains surrounding the border, is First Reformed Church – a last stand against Abundant Life megachurch (which Toller is subservient to), young right-wing extremists, and clear-cut religious philosophies. Toller attempts to speak for all, and he is frequently lambasted for being too vague, too opaque, lost in the mystery hanging in the air. His church is the eye in a hurricane, and it’s closing in, tightening around the throat, shape-shifting into a prison. "]
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