Butler's Cinema Scene

Ethan Hawke

“FIRST REFORMED” My rating: B+

113 minutes | MPAA rating: R

“First Reformed” doesn’t always work, but even as a partial failure it packs more mind- and soul-shaking punch than any other film yet released this year.

This simultaneously beautiful and desolate drama from Paul Schrader isn’t shy about borrowing from its antecedents, foremost among them Ingmar Bergman’s early ’60s religious trilogy (“Through a Glass Darkly,” “Winter Light,” “The Silence”) and Robert Bresson’s 1951 “Diary of a Country Priest.”

But thanks in large part to what may be Ethan Hawke’s finest performance, “First Reformed” finds its own voice, one that uncomfortably weighs conformity against concern for God’s creation.

Our protagonist, Reverend Toller (Hawke), is pastor of First Reformed Church in a picturesque New England Town.

Established before the American Revolution, First Reformed has hardly any parishioners; its doors are kept open through the financial support of a local megachurch whose ambitious and charismatic preacher (an excellent Cedric the Entertainer) views it as a curiosity, a sort of historic religious theme park.

It’s immediately obvious that Toller has hit bottom. A former military chaplain, he urged his son to enlist; when the boy died in combat Toller’s wife left him.

Now he spends his days writing sermons nobody hears and scribbling in a journal — he calls it “a form of prayer” –that he hopes will provide insight into the tailspin that has become his life (“When writing about oneself one should show no mercy.”)

Physically he’s slowly becoming a wraith, thanks to digestive issues — cancer? — which limit him to a diet of bread and broth.

Occasionally, though, he actually does a bit of ministering. He’s approached by a young parishioner, Mary (Amanda Seyfried), who requests counseling for her husband Michael (Philip Ettinger).  Mary is pregnant and Michael wants her to abort the baby.

Taller may expect to encounter some sort of selfish monster, but his session with Michael proves unnerving.  The young man is a sincere environmental activist who has come to the reluctant conclusion that a doomsday scenario of ecological breakdown, anarchy and martial law is inevitable. That being the case, Michael cannot justify bringing a new life into the world.

Toller is smart enough to realize the usual bromides aren’t going to work here; what’s really unsettling is that he cannot find an argument to counter Michael’s. In fact, he finds himself being persuaded by the young man’s paranoid outlook.

All of this unfolds as First Reformed nears its 250th anniversary celebration, an affair that will attract churchmen, historians and local politicians.  The whole thing is being underwritten by Edward Balq (Michael Gaston), whose Balq Industries, Toller discovers, is often  cited as one of America’s most shameless polluters.

Toller comes up with a plan — madness, madness — to use First Reformed’s big celebration to make a pro-environment statement no one will be able to ignore.

Perhaps no other contemporary filmmaker is as well equipped as Schrader to tackle this prickly material.  Raised in a stoic Calvinist faith, he didn’t see a film until he was in college, which may explain his dual fascination with over-the-edge drama and religious themes (he wrote or co-wrote “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Last Temptation of Christ” and has directed films like “Hardcore,” “Mishima,” “Patty Hearst” and “Afflicted”).

“First Reformed” is filled with conversations about theological issues, but instead of glazing over a viewer’s eyes Schrader’s screenplay forces an internal debate in every watcher’s head. Whose truth will we gravitate toward?

As Toller says: “Wisdom is holding two contradictory truths in our mind at the same time: hope and despair.”

Despite its grim themes and almost claustrophobic settings, “First Reformed” is achingly beautiful, with Alexander Dynan’s mostly stationary camera capturing a series of formal, carefully composed and balanced compositions.

“First Reformed” runs for a little under two hours.   But I saw it three weeks ago, and the soul-jarring disturbance it left behind still seems fresh and immediate.

That’s one definition of art.

| Robert W. Butler