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Members' Screening: First Reformed (15)

Ethan Hawke in First Reformed

Ethan Hawke stars in Paul Schrader's latest as a priest of a small congregation in upstate New York grappling with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.

Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock.

When a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence.

From writer-director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver; American Gigolo) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary.

US 2017 Dir Paul Schrader 113 min

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