A short but very intense friendship with a troubled environmental activist proves to be the catalyst for much self-reflection, introspection and upheaval in the life of Reverend Toller.
A short time prior to this, Toller had vowed to keep a diary for a year in which he would ponder the existential issues of life, love, death and religion.
And come the year's end he has vowed to destroy the diary.
As a 'man of the cloth' much would understandably be expected of Toller, though the fact that he is somewhat squirrelled away as the Pastor of the under-performing, relatively insignificant First Reformed Church - essentially an historic tourist attraction of Dutch origin, and certainly nothing particularly high profile - is the first hint that the Church's owners, Abundant Life, have only limited faith in Toller's ability to carry out the sort of duties required of a Pastor at any sort of meaningful level.
That said, the church is fast approaching its 250th anniversary and Toller has been tasked with putting together a suitable celebration to mark the occasion.
This would be a straight forward enough task for someone of sane and rational mind, but as is gradually revealed in Paul Schrader's challenging film, Toller is very much a man with a tragic and troubled past; one that very much impacts upon his mental state and approach to an equally troubling present. The undoubted weight of the responsibility required for the Church's anniversary celebrations therefore hangs heavy on the already heavily distracted Pastor's shoulders.
Ethan Hawke is in excellent form with a strong, nuanced performance portraying the fundamentally flawed Pastor, Toller, a man who has deliberately created a life for himself shorn entirely of all unnecessary accoutrements. Such an absence of possessions in many ways reflects the increasing emptiness within his own soul; a void that he repeatedly fills with a growing dependency on alcohol.
Schrader's film takes a morally-conscious contemplative journey from climate and pollution concerns to the corruption and self-serving nature of man, digging deep to get to the real heart of the Reverend Toller's troubles, and it is therefore an understandably bleak affair.
It's only really the burgeoning friendship between the Pastor and Mary (Amanda Seyfried), that in any way breaks through an at times seemingly all-pervading hopeless gloom that engulfs Toller as he wrestles manfully with the moral concerns of both his own life and those of others.
Straight forward and refreshingly conservative in its direction, First Reformed is a weighty, thought-provoking and at times unashamedly desperate film, though one not entirely bereft of the promise of salvation.
This and hundreds of other films are reviewed on my WAYWARDWOLFBLOG
A short time prior to this, Toller had vowed to keep a diary for a year in which he would ponder the existential issues of life, love, death and religion.
And come the year's end he has vowed to destroy the diary.
As a 'man of the cloth' much would understandably be expected of Toller, though the fact that he is somewhat squirrelled away as the Pastor of the under-performing, relatively insignificant First Reformed Church - essentially an historic tourist attraction of Dutch origin, and certainly nothing particularly high profile - is the first hint that the Church's owners, Abundant Life, have only limited faith in Toller's ability to carry out the sort of duties required of a Pastor at any sort of meaningful level.
That said, the church is fast approaching its 250th anniversary and Toller has been tasked with putting together a suitable celebration to mark the occasion.
This would be a straight forward enough task for someone of sane and rational mind, but as is gradually revealed in Paul Schrader's challenging film, Toller is very much a man with a tragic and troubled past; one that very much impacts upon his mental state and approach to an equally troubling present. The undoubted weight of the responsibility required for the Church's anniversary celebrations therefore hangs heavy on the already heavily distracted Pastor's shoulders.
Ethan Hawke is in excellent form with a strong, nuanced performance portraying the fundamentally flawed Pastor, Toller, a man who has deliberately created a life for himself shorn entirely of all unnecessary accoutrements. Such an absence of possessions in many ways reflects the increasing emptiness within his own soul; a void that he repeatedly fills with a growing dependency on alcohol.
Schrader's film takes a morally-conscious contemplative journey from climate and pollution concerns to the corruption and self-serving nature of man, digging deep to get to the real heart of the Reverend Toller's troubles, and it is therefore an understandably bleak affair.
It's only really the burgeoning friendship between the Pastor and Mary (Amanda Seyfried), that in any way breaks through an at times seemingly all-pervading hopeless gloom that engulfs Toller as he wrestles manfully with the moral concerns of both his own life and those of others.
Straight forward and refreshingly conservative in its direction, First Reformed is a weighty, thought-provoking and at times unashamedly desperate film, though one not entirely bereft of the promise of salvation.
This and hundreds of other films are reviewed on my WAYWARDWOLFBLOG