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First Reformed
2018 113 min United States of America, United Kingdom R 18+
★7.7
Drama
Director: Paul Schrader
Trailers
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Description
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
Budget:
$3.5M
US Gross:
$3.45M
Worldwide:
$3.99M
Starring
Ethan Hawke
Actor
Amanda Seyfried
Actor
Cedric The Entertainer
Actor
Awards
Venice Film Festival 2017
— Green Drop Award
Academy Awards 2019
— Best Screenplay
Venice Film Festival 2017
— Golden Lion
Key opinion
First Reformed is widely regarded as a profound, if challenging, work of auteur cinema that masterfully explores the intersection of faith, existential dread, and environmental collapse. While most critics praise its visual precision and Ethan Hawke's central performance, some viewers find the plot's shift toward radicalism and its ambiguous, melodramatic finale to be narratively jarring.
| Acting | Ethan Hawke delivers a masterful, deeply committed performance as the tortured Pastor Toller, grounding the film's existential weight. | |
| Cinematography | The cinematography uses a precise, minimalist aesthetic that evokes both Bressonian spiritual inquiry and a cold, modern detachment. | |
| Screenplay | The film features incisive, intellectually rigorous dialogue that effectively bridges the gap between religious dogma and modern ecological crises. | |
| Pacing | The deliberate, meditative pacing is seen by many as a powerful stylistic choice, though others find it detached or overly slow. | |
| Ending | The ending is highly divisive, with some finding its metaphysical shift towards hope profound and others viewing it as a rushed, illogical departure from the film's established realism. | |
| Accessibility | The film's dense focus on religious and theological inquiry makes it inaccessible to audiences who prefer mainstream narrative structures or lack familiarity with faith-based contexts. |