A good movie

Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, after a prolific career going over more than 40 years, Paul Schrader had finally another critical hit. Well, it turned out to be a challenging movie, that’s for sure, and I have to admit that I had a rather hard time to connect with it. Indeed, the damned thing was just so dark, and to be honest, quite depressing. Eventually, what was Paul Schrader getting at? Was it about a pastor struggling with his faith or maybe with life in general? What was the link with the current worldwide climate crisis? There were also a couple of really surreal scenes involving Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried which made the whole thing even more difficult to grasp but it also made the movie even more intriguing at the same time. While I was watching the damned thing, it also reminded me of ‘Journal d'un curé de campagne’ which I saw not so long ago and I wasn’t surprised to found out afterwards that it did indeed inspire Schrader for this movie. In both movies, the actual writing of the diary, even if it might seem an easy trick to hear the thoughts and feelings of the main character, had a rather mesmerizing impact, probably even more in ‘First Reformed’. On top of that, there is no denying that Ethan Hawke delivered another really strong performance (it’s rather surprising that he wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award back then). Sometimes, you might wish that they went slightly deeper in this character but Hawke was fine and was always quite spellbinding to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was a solid watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.