Boxed into an old school 4:3 ratio, First Reformed is a crisp, elegant and divinely constructed think piece from a top of his game Paul Schrader. Ethan Hawke gives a career best performance in the role of a man conflicted by his faith, personal tragedies and brutal awakening to the world around him, which, he comes to realise, shares his suffering. This is a film that dares to compare its implicated audience to God in a Lacanian conception of the viewer-screen relationship and hits hard with its emotional resonance.
In just over a month’s time, Green Book may well be named Best Picture at the Oscars. That’s quite the achievement considering that, just six years ago, its director was one-third responsible for the lamentable Movie 43. On the other hand, the recruitment of Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali as either half of a road-tripping odd-couple was always a good sign. Amid waves of controversy, most will fail to see how so a touching a film could ever be remotely disliked.
American police brutality continues to inspire bold cinematic outrage in this desperately sad directorial debut from Reinaldo Marcus Green. The film comes hot on the heels of last year’s The Hate U Give and skews a similar story of social ramification for more mature audiences, who will find themselves quietly affected and perhaps even mobilised.
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