First Reformed (Paul Schrader, June 22, 2018, A24) Movie • Page 2

Wow this was just unrelentingly suffocating like few movies I've seen. Saw this instead of Hereditary and I feel as though I may have seen the more frightening film.

 

Already seen this twice and it's the best of the year imo, I can't stop thinking about it.

 

This was great.

 

I watched Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead last night (written by Schrader) and found a lot of parallels between that film and First Reformed. It's Scorsese in the 90s, so the aesthetic is far less austere than First Reformed, but the narrative almost feels like a test run for First Reformed. The film also explores the burden of empathy, examining a man with seemingly the weight of the world on his back. I think these films compliment each other well.

Also, if anyone is looking to watch more Schrader, his 1992 film Light Sleeper is on Mubi right now for another 20 days. If you're looking for a free trial to check it out, feel free to use my referral link If you like cinema, you'll love MUBI.

 

This was just pure unrelenting suffering. Honestly don't know how I feel about the ending but when the drain cleaner showed up, Julien Baker popped into my head. "Make my insides clean with the kitchen bleach". So I think I saw the ending coming but didn't fully realize it?
Felt a bit heavy handed but overall I think I enjoyed it, a lot to process.

 

Wow I was not prepared for this. I absolutely loved it but I agree that seeing Hereditary was way less terrifying. I grew up in a church and so many things just hit me like a ton of bricks. Definitely need to process the ending but that opening song foreshadowing was incredible.

 

checking this out now, finally

 

yeah, that’s gonna be a fuck no outta me

 

Incorrect

 

it certainly was not a fuck yes outta me

 

That’s too bad.

I think it’s quite a challenging film (especially in its pacing, which feels more like a Bresson film from the 50s than anything coming out these days). So I get why people would reject it. But I think the proclaimating that it’s horrible seems a little extreme. Idk, I think it’s a borderline masterpiece.

 

I’m glad you enjoyed it. I really wanted to. One of the movies I’ve anticipated most in a long time.

 

I still can't believe the same distributor as dead farting Harry Potter picked this up.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm curious why you disliked this so much, if you feel like sharing.

 

I feel like the writing is getting heavily praised and it feels more akin to Schrader’s direct to VOD stuff than his classics, to me. I found the structure fairly clumsy and heavy-handed, though I suppose part of the heavy-handedness was by design. As for the direction, part of it could be being spoiled by what can be done in 2018, but i feel like it was fairly simple and lacking any sort of stylistic craft or flourish. Not that every movie has to be 2049 or whatever, but even The Rider a few weeks ago had a flair behind the camera that impressed me more than this. The acting was pretty incredible across the board, though i’m not a huge fan of Michael Gaston. Whatever, he was a fairly inconsequential role. I’m fine with the praise ethan and amanda are getting. Idk, i’m rambling a bit. Just feel like it wasn’t quite as well crafted as i’m hearing everyone else seems to think it was. And again, while i’m sure it was the point as i said, the level of relentlessnesss the back half had kept me at a distance from appreciating it.

 

Fair enough. I know our approach to cinema is quite different. I'm not fussed about writing (wrt plot and/or dialogue) and acting in the tradition sense. I actually loved the cold, stage-like aesthetic to the film. I think it mirrors and even strengthens the ideas of the film to not have it be very flashy. I spoke about Scorsese's Bringing Up the Dead earlier and I think that film parallels this one in many ways, Scorsese's more bombastic direction makes it the weaker film.

I saw Schrader speak about a year ago about slow cinema and "transcendental style," where he spoke about directors like Bresson and Dreyer, and a lot of his ideas come across in this film (which he briefly spoke about too, as the sort of tribute to those film makers). Idk. Too bad you weren't into it, because I think it's one of the great American films of the decade.

 

Oh, and in looking up that Schrader talk again, I found that there is actually a full video of the talk. If anyone is interested in flipping through it. It's not related to First Reformed, but the entire talk is hinged on the major influences of the film.

 

I totally agree that the claustrophobic and still style reminded me so much more of European films than what is usually a major release here. So much of Bergman and Bresson as has been mentioned, and taking the themes of his earlier work but ramping it up by keeping everything so internal and simple. I did not expect it to be so totally overwhelming and dreadful the entire time, but the inspirations make a lot of sense for that feeling.

 

This movie was extremely fucked up and perfect, but I'm never recommending it to anyone.

 

I can't stop thinking about this.

 

This is the best kind of film to wash my mouth out after Jurassic Park 5.

 

I'm patiently waiting for VOD

 

Can’t believe I still haven’t seen this. Contemplating just ordering the Blu-ray it’s only like $18

 

Doesn’t sound like a welcomed repeat viewing so I’ll hold back

 

Yeah as good as it was it’s definitely going to be a once a decade kind of thing.