Features

First Reformed

Paul Schrader
USA 2017
114 min
V'18

Das Gespräch mit einem suizidgefährdeten Gemeindemitglied bringt Pfarrer Ernst Toller ins Grübeln: Was, wenn unser Planet tatsächlich nicht mehr zu retten und die Schöpfung verloren wäre? In einer Glaubenskrise befand sich der Gottesmann, der mit der in Upstate New York gelegenen, titelgebenden historischen Kirche eher eine Touristenattraktion denn einen Ort des Glaubens zu betreuen hat, ohnehin vorher schon. Nun beginnt er, nach einem möglichen tatkräftigen Ausweg zu suchen, ja ein Fanal will er setzen! Schrader inszeniert sein profundes Thema irgendwo zwischen Arthouse und Grindhouse, und Hawke in der Hauptrolle bildet sein düster-faszinierendes Zentrum. (Alexandra Seitz)

 

 

Writer of TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL, director of AMERICAN GIGOLO, MISHIMA and CAT PEOPLE, veteran American auteur Paul Schrader has staged one of the most spectacular of recent cinematic comebacks with this acutely observed, character-based drama. Constructed around Oscar-tipped Ethan Hawke’s magnetic performance, it is an incisively intelligent and burningly topical film about faith, doubt, guilt and desire in the 21st century. A fortysomething clergyman of relentless self-searching introspection, Toller finds himself questioning his ethics and presumptions with renewed vigour after encountering eco-warrior parishioner Michael (a remarkable performance by previously little-known Philip Ettinger). This crisis of conscience brings Toller into conflict with his materialistically-minded religious superiors, spurring him towards increasingly “radical” perspectives – and, eventually, actions. Inspired by such classics of troubled faith as Bresson’s DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, Schrader (a scholar of film as well as being a distinguished practitioner) has crafted a visually striking, compellingly humane and thematically complex work, a transcendental mini-epic which has already earned hosannas of praise from critics and audiences all over the world. (Neil Young) 

Credits
  • Ethan Hawke - Toller
  • Amanda Seyfried - Mary
  • Philip Ettinger - Michael
  • Cedric the Entertainer - Cedric Antonio Kyles
  • Paul Schrader
  • Alexander Dynan
  • Michael McMenomy
  • Jr.
  • Benjamin Rodriguez
  • Nicci Kasper
  • Brian Williams
  • Grace Yun
  • Olga Mill
Killer Films, Omeira Studio Partners, Fibonacci Films, Hamilton Entertainment

Park Circus

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