The bracing 'First Reformed,' starring a superb Ethan Hawke, resurrects Paul Schrader's career
In the opening shot of Paul Schrader's new movie, the camera creeps slowly toward First Reformed Church, a small chapel in upstate New York that has welcomed parishioners since 1767. The place has seen better days, and so has its weary reverend, Ernst Toller (a superb Ethan Hawke).
He leads a weekly congregation of about four or five in a building regarded as little more than a Dutch Colonial relic by its owner, a deep-pocketed mega-church called Abundant Life Ministries.
The leaders of Abundant Life plan to celebrate the 250th anniversary of First Reformed with a reconsecration ceremony, a chance to fire up the rusty old organ and hallow these halls anew, in
