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First Reformed

2017

Paul Schrader

Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer, Michael Gaston ...

6.4

6,593

Drama An ex-military chaplain (Ethan Hawke) is wrecked by grief over the death of his son in Iraq. Amanda Seyfried plays a member of his church whose husband, a radical environmentalist, commits suicide, setting the plot in motion.

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Schrader offers one of the year's best movies (...) Ethan Hawke hitting a new career peak-who is politically awakened by an eco-activist and a new kind of love (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"Schrader (...) is 71, and has had a long and varied career, but 'First Reformed' nonetheless feels like a fresh discovery. More than that: an epiphany."	POS
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"It’s a fierce film; Schrader, one of the crucial creators of the modern cinema (...) seems to have made it in a state of anger, passion, pain, mourning, and desire"	POS
United States	Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"A mesmerizingly austere drama (…) [It] feels like the movie Paul Schrader was put on this planet to make (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"A grindhouse art film you can't stop watching (...) [Hawke] takes the role of Toller (...) and makes it convincing (...) [Schrader] is still one hell of a filmmaker."	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter	"It's his most effective work as a director since 'Auto Focus 15' (...) There's not quite enough oomph or style in the filmmaking to make you forget about the schematic nature of the dramatic construct"	NEU
Canada	Peter Howell Toronto Star	"Schrader’s best film in two decades (…) [He] is a master of austere screen stories of existential crisis, which he’s deepened here with his genuine concerns about environmental ruin (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"An inescapably memorable and at times almost unbearably sorrowful piece of work (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"[Hawke] is never less than astonishing to watch (...) [It] is the sort of stimulating work that a writer-director of a certain age can deliver when he returns to his creative sweet spot; rejoice, Schrader fans, rejoice"	POS
United States	Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune	"A miracle in its own regard, the rare type of film that leaves us with questions left to answer and for many, a desire to dig into it deeper through a second viewing (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Hawke provides a compelling anchor for Schrader's surprisingly effective religious-themed film (...) A fascinating meditation on inner turmoil in which doing the right thing can lead down many wrong directions."	POS
United Kingdom	Xan Brooks The Guardian	"Paul Schrader fans won’t find his new drama a revelation – but Hawke fills the flawed holy man template well (...) 'First Reformed' is a deeply felt, deeply thought picture (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Thoughtful, moving, overreaching and uncompromising (...) 'First Reformed' belongs to Hawke’s impassioned, agonized portrayal"	POS

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