First Reformed
Directed by Paul Schrader
- drama
The story
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
What it’s like
Boxy 4:3 framing, static long takes and slow push-ins on a sparse, grey-green upstate landscape, with a palette of cold winter light, dull church pews and pale parish walls. The look is austere and deliberately airless: interiors lit by thin overcast daylight or a single bare bulb, a hard-edged, almost liturgical stillness, and a score built from tense, sustained drones and sudden silence rather than melody. Its vibe is bleak, contemplative dread, the kind of quiet that feels like a held breath. It suits a late, solitary night when you want to sit with spiritual unrest rather than be entertained, and it moves slowly, letting long conversations and private rituals (journal entries, a candle-lit confession) carry the weight. The emotional register is heavy and morally searching, following a disillusioned clergyman whose faith frays as he confronts despair, guilt and the climate catastrophe around him. Intensity is high: suicide is central, there is a sharp, shocking act of self-harm and violence that arrives abruptly, and despair hangs over most scenes, though there is no gore. It is for viewers who want serious, uncompromising drama about faith and despair and can handle a film that offers little comfort.
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