First Reformed (2018, R)

Another Best Screenplay nominee, original this time.  Before the nominations came out, Ethan Hawke’s name was also kicked around as a Best Leading Actor contender but he didn’t wind up getting on the list.  An interesting film that definitely has something to say.

Rev. Toller keeps plugging away with his miniscule flock, despite enduring emotional and physical hardships of his own.  One of his congregants, Mary, asks him to meet with her husband Michael.  An ardent environmental activist, he’s just found out she’s pregnant and is convinced it would be more ethical to abort than to bring a child into the climate-change-ravaged future.  In their talks, Toller finds a new spark and purpose in the challenge Michael’s ideas present to him. 

An intriguing premise.  At the center of it, of course, is the intersection of several pretty charged notions:  the looming effects of climate change, abortion, faith, our duty to the Earth, and the place where activism becomes terrorism.  It’s a lot to chew on, and there are places where the story takes a back seat to the message.  This can make it feel preachy in places (ironic, considering it’s usually not coming from the religious side of the film.)  I don’t doubt the veracity and urgency of the message it’s making, and I’m certainly not saying that a movie isn’t an appropriate venue in which to make it, as I like/love plenty of films that drive home important theses.  It’s more to do with how it goes about making it – it seems to me like it could bring its points home more effectively by letting it rise out of the story.

As for the story, even if it sometimes feels like the film views it as a “necessary evil” by which to deliver its message, it actually has a lot more going on, character-wise, than it seems to have at first glance.  Much of the direction is very spare and there are lots of quiet sequences of Rev. Toller mutedly going about his day over voiceover (he’s committed to a year of journaling,) but there are a number of threads making up the details of his tragic past and troubled present.  These details are introduced slowly over the course of the film, and his relationships with God and the people around him, as well as the stalemate he seems to have with himself that’s slowly coming to a head, add more dimension to the puzzle as we go.

The same can be said for Ethan Hawke’s performance as Toller:  deceptively simple, but with more going on than initially appears.  I wasn’t familiar with too many people in this movie, but it also features Amanda Seyfried (former Mean Girl and immortalized as the late Lily Kane on Veronica Mars) as Mary and Cedric the Entertainer as the pastor of a neighboring mega-church.

Warnings

Drinking, violence, strong thematic elements (including suicide,) and disturbing imagery.