First Reformer | Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Directed by Paul Schrader
With 1972’s Transcendental Style in Film, Paul Schrader literally wrote the book on spirituality and filmmaking. Despite that text and his lifelong devotion to the church, however, he’s best known for his raucous screenplays ( Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and his audacious directing ( American Gigolo, Mishima, controversial Bret Easton Ellis collaboration The Canyons). Sure, 1979’s Hardcore featured a Calvinist priest, but it was mostly a film about being lost in the porn industry. By his own admission, Schrader hasn’t fully embraced Christianity on film until now, and First Reformed is a stunning achievement.
Ethan Hawke delivers a muted, career-best performance as Toller, a reverend going through a quiet crisis of faith as he prepares for the 250th anniversary celebration of his historic chapel. After another sparsely attended Sunday service, he’s approached by Mary (Amanda Seyfried), who asks Toller to counsel her husband Michael (Philip Ettinger), a staunch environmental activist who is feeling crushed by the seemingly hopeless nature of the world. Toller agrees, and he and Michael engage in lengthy chats about theology, activism and social justice. Despite their seeming progress, however, Michael dies of suicide, further exacerbating Toller’s spiritual crisis.
First Reformed presents a number of narrative paths that a lesser director would’ve indulged, sidestepping opportunities for tiresome abortion debates or finger-wagging at Christian hypocrisy. Even Cedric the Entertainer, who plays megachurch boss man Pastor Jeffers, is a three-dimensional and mostly well-intentioned character. Meditatively paced and shot in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Schrader’s greatest work is neither a stuffy drama nor an alienating religious study. Instead, it’s a dizzying and arresting work that pairs psychological thrills and surreal cinematography (which, depending on your taste, gets to be a bit much in a levitation scene) with an intimate look at how far devotion, zeal and passion can take a person before they crack.
First Reformed is a culmination of Schrader’s entire career, tying multiple threads together and solidifying him as a true American master. (ABMO) JOSIAH HUGHES
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Directed by Morgan Neville
The world could really use a Mister Rogers right about now. In an age characterized by vitriol and hate, someone who exudes peace, warmth and self-acceptance can be a unifying force in these uncertain times. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? chronicles Fred Rogers’ rise from warm-hearted seminary student to beloved children’s edutainer. But, more than that, it’s a snapshot of American life through the eyes of its purest orator. Many remember Rogers as a cardigan-clad man with a soft voice, the mild-mannered host of long-running children’s program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. But Won’t You Be My Neighbor? casts Rogers as an iconoclast, as a powerful advocate in securing public broadcasting funding, and as a shaper in conversations surrounding political assassinations and ending racial segregation. His willingness to provide an alternative to loud, often violent children’s TV programs inspired generations of learners and dreamers.
Directed by Morgan Neville (Academy Awardwinning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? blends archival footage spanning Rogers’ entire career with new interviews from those he impacted over his 74 years, including family, friends, coworkers and even the parents of a quadriplegic man featured on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as a child. The film offers endless, glowing praise for a man guided by a need to love and be loved.
Not much is needed to orient Rogers’ story in today’s political context — in one prescient example, King Friday XIII, one of the puppet denizens of Rogers’ “Neighborhood of Make-Believe” segment, builds a wall in a Vietnam War-era episode. Though some may find fault in the portrayal of Rogers as a too-pure-for-this-world, almost Messianic figure, there’s really not much dirt on the man. An attempt to showcase some sort of a darker side comes when cast member François Clemmons discusses Rogers’ desire for Clemmons to remain closeted out of fear for backlash from the show’s sponsors and network, but just ends up casting Rogers as remarkably progressive for his time.
The documentary works in a similar fashion to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Sweet, charming and willing to take its own time to get things settled, drawing you in before delving into the deeper, more complex shades of human behaviour. There will never be another Mister Rogers, but Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a powerful reminder that his lessons and demeanour are everlasting, sure to inspire a new generation of dreamers. (Focus Features)