First Reformed

As a nearby megachurch steadily claims the dwindling congregation of Reverend Toller (an unforgettable Ethan Hawke), he finds newfound meaning (and a reawakened desire) when a lovely parishioner named Mary comes for counseling about her increasingly unstable husband. Returning to topics consistent throughout his remarkable, award-winning body of work, such as religion, obsession, and rage, writer/director Paul Schrader has made one of the defining films of his career. Amanda Seyfried and Cedric the Entertainer turn in memorable supporting performances.

“Schrader is only seventy-one, and I trust that he has many years of artistic creation ahead of him. But First Reformed nonetheless has the feeling of a summation, of a teeming and roiling avowal of his longtime obsessions, from the distant pressure of family life as a child to the repellent politics currently unfolding daily.”—Richard Brody, The New Yorker