‘Reformed’ a mesmerizing film
knowledge of the emptiness of all things can only be filled by the presence of our lord.”
Or the presence of a suicide vest, hidden in Mary’s garage.
Director-writer Schrader belongs chronologically to the Spielberg-Scorsese-Coppola-Lucas generation, but his cinematic and religious background was much more restrictive than theirs. His own strict Dutch Calvinist parents refused to let him see a movie until he was 17. After a stint as a film criticprotege of Pauline Kael, he began writing screenplays with the hugely successful “Taxi Driver” (1976), based on his experiences in Los Angeles, struggling with suicidal depression. That, and subsequent big Scorsese film scripts (including “Raging Bull” and “The Last Temptation of Christ”) led to directing his own risky films — typically, stories of desperate men whose worlds are crumbling around them, like “Affliction” (1997) and “Dog Eat Dog” (2016).
The desperate clergyman in “First Reformed” — aside from Mary and Mike’s problems — is ailing, and drinking heavilyon the eve of presiding at his little church’s 250th anniversary reconsecration event. Its benefactor (Michael Gaston), who contributes big bucks to church charities to cover for his crimes as an industrial polluter, insists the ceremony not be “political” — no mention of a late activist’s ashes being scattered at a toxicwaste site.
Rev. Toller’s superior (cleverly played by Cedric “theEntertainer” Kyles) tries to mediate: “Do you have any idea what it takes to run a system this size?” he asks Toller.“Even Jesus wasn’t
in the garden, suffering andsweating blood!”
Shot in just 20 days on a tiny (these days) $3.5 million budget, this film is different from all of Mr. Schrader’s previous ones.
“It’s a kind of reworking of Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Winter Light’ (1963), with a little bit of Robert Bresson’s ‘Diary of a Country Priest’ (1951) and a little bit of Andrei Tarkovsky,” he told an interviewer, adding that he was surprised to notice, while editing, how many similarities its hero shared with the self-imposed loneliness of “Taxi Driver’s” Travis Bickle.
The trouble with a spiritual story, says Mr. Schrader, is that “everything in cinema rebels against spirituality. Cinema is based on action and empathy. These are not elements in the transcendental toolkit. In many ways, people who try to do spiritual or contemplative films are working against the grain of the medium itself.”
Nevertheless, this picture is so visually striking — with a Magical Mystery Tour sequence of magic realism — and so measured in its deliberate pacing, as befits its brooding nature and sober themes. (“What is one’s last thought as one pulls the trigger — ‘There goes my head,’ or ‘Jesus, watch over me’? Or neither?”) It is more quietly mesmerizing than anything Mr. Schrader has previously written or directed, and it is perfectly performed. Mr. Hawke gives perhaps his most moving, mature performance to date. Ms. Seyfried is excellent.
This is a tremendously thoughtful, tormented work. There are many tales, in and out of film, of conflicted ministers losing their faith. But this one is about losing hope.
Hope vs. despair. Can you hold two contradictory truths in your mind at the same time? ruthless corporate titan until John summons her home.
Youngest son Kayce (Luke Grimes, “Brothers and Sisters”), a military vet, is the most soulful, yet he manages to kill someone in each of the three episodes made available for review.
Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, who played Deputy Hale on “Sons of Anarchy” before moving behind the camera to write the movie “Sicario,” “Yellowstone” plotlines occasionally skimp on details — a barely introduced character commits suicide — and the show has an oddly repetitive penchant for showing maimed/killed animals (a horse in the opening scene of the pilot, a dog and a coyote in later episodes) that’s sure to horrify some viewers.
The two-hour “Yellowstone” pilot (9 p.m. Wednesday, The Paramount Network) is both talky and somewhat predictable as it establishes the characters, their relationships and conflicts. But future episodes offer more surprises and deepen the characters — flashbacks help establish why Beth is the way she is — making “Yellowstone” an enticing summer diversion.
‘Take Two’
The first and only season of filmed-in-Pittsburgh procedural drama “Gone” finally will air in America in 2019 on WGN America.
Filmed in 2017, “Gone” follows an FBI special task force that investigates abductions. Ross native Andy Mientus co-starred in the series alongside series leads Chris Noth (“The Good Wife”) and Leven Rambin (“True Detective”).
“Gone” aired in Europe earlier this year before it was canceled in April.
Kept/canceled
FX ordered a third season of “Atlanta.”
HBO renewed “Succession” for season two; Starz did the same for “Vida.”
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