The Bracing, Grim Power of <em>First Reformed</em>
Paul Schrader’s impressive new film stars Ethan Hawke as a pastor who becomes increasingly disillusioned by the world around him.
The of Paul Schrader’s new film is a church, a small edifice in Upstate New York with a rich history in the abolitionist movement, a landmark of a bygone age of activism and justice. Now, it’s little more than a museum piece that exists in the shadow of the more popular mega-church that owns it, and its depleted parish is presided over by the taciturn Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke). Though Toller still gives sermons to mostly empty pews, his main duty
