First Reformed (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Paul Schrader

Starring:  Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles (Cedric the Entertainer), Michael Gaston, Phillip Ettinger, Victoria Hill

Paul Schrader, who wrote and directed First Reformed, takes on the storytelling arc of Taxi Driver (which he also wrote) and then backs off the inevitable payoff.    It is a frustrating film, but not without its virtues, and it raises some thoughtful points about the unholy mixture of religion and politics.    We must face facts:   There was never such a thing as separation of church and state and there never will be.    If there ever was one, that dissipated in the 1980's when Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority backed Reagan for President.    One of the hypocrisies which Reverend Toller (Hawke) in First Reformed can't abide is how the church is in bed with multi-billion dollar corporations which deny climate change and pollute the environment at will.

Rev. Toller is a troubled pastor at the sparsely attended First Reformed church in upstate New York.    He is an alcoholic in failing health who questions his faith and his purpose in life.    He keeps a journal (a la Travis Bickle), but he finds no comfort in putting his thoughts to paper.    What he and the world is becoming terrifies him.    A pretty, pregnant blonde named Mary (Seyfried) asks him after one Sunday mass to speak with her husband who wants Mary to have an abortion because of his own despair over the Earth's future due to climate change.    My initial thought on this:  If you don't want a child, take the necessary precautions.    Abortion should not be a last resort form of birth control.

Toller meets with Mike, the husband whose despair borders on suicidal, and finds he can't comfort him and doubts how much his counsel helped at all.   Days later, Mike commits a gruesome suicide, and this causes even more festering doubt within Rev. Toller, as if he needed any more.    Rev. Toller's boss Rev. Jeffers (Cedric the Entertainer), who runs the conglomerate Abundant Life Church which is replete with Abundant office space, congregation, and dollars, wants Rev. Toller to focus on the First Reformed's upcoming 250th anniversary, but even he can't help but worry about Rev. Toller's health and mindset.    Well, to be honest, Rev. Toller is not highly thought of by the CEO of Balq Industries, which is bankrolling the anniversary celebration, and is one of the leading polluters in New York.   Toller can't stand the church being in bed with Balq, while Jeffers has found a way to ease his conscience because Balq is a major contributor to the church.   So when I say Jeffers is concerned about Toller, he is really trying to ensure Toller won't screw up the celebration.

It is disquieting to see a sign above the First Reformed church which says "Sponsored by Balq Industries," but that is the way of the world.    We went from a time where John F. Kennedy's 1960 election was in doubt because of his Roman Catholicism, and now a Presidential candidate must mention faith and God every other sentence in order to persuade the religious right to vote for him or her.    And how sad is it that Donald Trump, the epitome of glorification of monetary excess and amorality, somehow convinced millions on the religious right that he was somehow the more spiritually viable candidate between he and Hillary Clinton. 

First Reformed explores the puzzling disconnect between spirituality and religion with ruthless honesty.    It doesn't blink, until suddenly it does, leaving us baffled by the implications of its conclusion.    I could go all movie critic on you and try and bullshit you about how brilliant the ending is or how Schrader leaves it open to interpretation.    Nah.   The ending feels like a compromise, as if Schrader bailed out at the last minute instead of giving us the proper conclusion which it had been building to for nearly two hours.    First Reformed is teeming with intelligent performances and thought-provoking ideas, only to end things with more thought-provoking questions, but not necessarily in a good way.    Such as, did Rev. Toller finally get the blonde Travis Bickle couldn't get in Taxi Driver?    I can't help but compare the films.    Still, First Reformed provides enough insight to allow for a three-star rating, but it was set up to be so much more.