FIRST REFORMED

Watch Trailer Director: Paul Schrader
Writer(s): Paul Schrader
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer

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; Affliction) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary.

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Running Time: 108 minutes108 MIN
R Rated
Closed Captioning is available for this film. Open Captioning is available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

Ethan Hawke is better than ever in Paul Schrader’s tense eco-thriller

Eric Kohn
indieWIRE