First Reformed 2018
This movie got a lot of acclaim at the end of the year but I don’t even remember it being at the theaters (total box office was $3.5 million). It’s not an easy sell since it is about a tortured minister at a historic church in a small town in New York. Watching it, it is an even harder sell as it turns out to be very slow moving, dark, with a lot of suffering all around, followed by an odd and ambiguous ending. Only a film lover could love this movie, thus explaining the high ratings, but ultimately leaving me pretty disappointed. I was happy at least that I didn’t really have to pay for it, getting a free month of Amazon Prime with a purchase and watching it on their service.
The performances are good, quiet in general, and everything with a very indie style feel (shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, it annoyingly looks like it was cropped, as stuff is happening in the black sidebars). It is primarily about the tortured priest. I won’t go into why he is tortured, but he has a lot of issues and they take a toll as the movie goes on. Ultimately I didn’t buy what was happening. It is good to see Ethan Hawke, but it is a pretty subdued performance. Amanda Seyfried is in it as well as one of maybe four people that attend his church and whose husband is also tortured and not doing so well. Ultimately it is all too meaningless to be worth all the darkness and suffering we had to get through. I did enjoy seeing Cedric the Entertainer in the movie and he was so serious I didn’t even recognize him until I looked up the cast to see who this very familiar actor was. Glad I saw this so I wouldn’t buy it on reputation later.
Written: 26 Jan 2019