A Critical and Christian Take on A24's First Reformed

Walking away from Paul Schrader's 2018 psychological thriller "First Reformed," I had one distinct and well-formed thought playing on repeat in my head. And I quote: "I can't decide if that's the best Christian movie I've ever seen or straight-up blasphemy." I'm still not sure I've been able to fully and thoughtfully answer that question, and I don't know if I really ever will or if I really even want to. Perhaps that's for the best, even though as I write this, I’m aware that, in a lot of ways, I’m trying to fully articulate my own opinions on the movie even as I review it. And regardless of which side it may fall on, I can say one thing for sure: I'm glad I watched this film. From a technical and craftsmanship-oriented standpoint, First Reformed is overwhelmingly and emphatically a fantastically done and deeply uncomfortable movie as well as one of my favorite (least favorite?) A24 outings, and I knew I needed to talk about it the very second the credits rolled. So, this article is going to play in two parts. The first part will be a pretty straightforward review of the film's objective and measurable artistic and design merits and shortcomings, and the second will be something new: I'm going to run this film through Scripture and everything that I've learned in my walk with the Lord, which has in the past been admittedly tempestuous and sometimes even unbearably difficult, perhaps placing this film right up my alley. I don't want to convince you to watch this movie or not watch this movie, and if you walk away from this article feeling that I've influenced you one way or the other, I think that in a lot of ways, I would have failed. And I don't know if that sounds sentimental or something, but I just finished this movie, and I'm feeling somewhat sentimental.

First Reformed follows Toller (Ethan Hawke), a pastor from a church in Upstate New York who, struggling with despair, starts a journal to write down his thoughts and his deeds to try and make some sense of his life. His already-fractured world is completely upended when he meets a rather unusual couple: an unstable and unsafe environmental extremist named Michael who wants his wife, Mary, to get an abortion, deeming the world unlivable for his unborn child. As the story progresses and the stakes become personal and even sinister, Toller's faith and psyche are tested in ways he had never before dreamed of.

Starting with the film’s artistic merits, I want to talk about how blatantly and wonderfully artistic and stylish this movie can be. It’s obviously trying to stand out from mainstream movies in a visual sense, and everything from its unusual 1:33:1 aspect ratio to its oft-minimalistic and almost surreal production design certainly makes it stand out on a visual level. Throughout the film, I was wondering if there was some reason for this choice of aspect ratio, but by the time the story First Reformed was telling picked up, I came to the conclusion that it was using the aspect ratio it was because it could, and while I could come up with all kinds of artistic, vague, pithy, and probably-wrong answers as to why this specific choice was made, I think that it’s enough for me to say that it used a 1:33:1 aspect ratio because it looks cool. And I think that’s a good-enough reason. The cinematography of this film, headed by Alexander Dynan, is excellent. It’s bleak and often hopeless feeling, but it also packs moments of brilliant color, such as one sequence with a beautiful purple sunrise that stuck effectively in my mind by juxtaposing itself from the rest of the film, which often and intentionally looks cold and washed-out. In addition, First Reformed also implemented some effective usage of the age-old show-don’t-tell rule throughout, keeping the audience’s focus on the visuals of the film rather than on expositional sequences.

Speaking of focus, this movie is also a really intimate and deeply personal character study of Toller and the tests and trials he endures. Driving this aspect of the film forward in some pretty profound ways is Toller’s journal, which he starts as an experiment to explore his hopelessness in an attempt to make some sense of his existence and the trials he’s facing. As far as the plot of the film goes, it follows an unusual arc. It moves from a place of discomfort to greater discomfort to increased comfort to conflict and finally to an incredibly uncomfortable ending that will stick with me for a very long time. This film is an undeniably character-centric one, and I noticed that this character-centrism specifically focused more or less entirely on Toller and his experiences and gave the story the oomph to keep it from wandering, unlike other A24 films like The Florida Project, where juggling multiple characters made an otherwise excellent film somewhat unfocused. The icing on the top of this filmmaking cake is Ethan Hawke and Co’s acting, which is absolutely phenomenal, and really kept me invested in this movie. Toller is an incredibly tragic, tortured, unstable, but empathetic character that I’m surprised I haven’t heard about more. Hawke has given me probably my all-time favorite performance in an A24 film (so far), except for maybe Evelyn from Everything Everywhere All At Once, and made me ask myself a lot of very uncomfortable questions about my own experiences walking with the Lord. The supporting cast was, as I mentioned, also excellent, in particular Amanda Seyfried as Mary, a character whose personal connection to Toller drives a lot of our emotional connection to him.

So, I’ve spent a lot of time looking at this movie from a purely critical point of view, but I wanted to also look at it from my perspective as a Christian, given that this movie is absolutely and utterly steeped in spirituality. I want to start by acknowledging something: First Reformed is a really dark picture. This is not a Kendrick Brothers film, and it never tries to be that kind of film, the kind that offers easy answers and shallow moralizing wrapped up in what some might call a story. It’s a story about despair and asks us a really uncomfortable question: how will we respond when God doesn’t? How about when he chooses to not immediately save? When he chooses to not immediately deliver? This movie raises a lot of questions, and rather than straight-up answering them, leaves that ball in our court for us to draw our own conclusions which, in a lot of ways, is what a good movie is supposed to do. The messaging of First Reformed seems to be intentionally conflicted to whip up a conversation among those watching it, and I would say that this is both a good and a bad thing. However, while it may be split in the court of public consensus, where it’s not split is the fact that this method is deeply uncomfortable to wrestle with, hence the conversation we saw surrounding this film. Paul Schrader isn’t trying to spoon-feed us easy answers, nor I would argue, should he. You’ll probably have some pretty strong opinions on this film if you decide to watch it, and I would say that this is probably a good thing. A deep and dark character study like this, when successfully done, should stir up strong emotions one way and the other.

In some ways, I highly recommend this movie. In others, I condemn it. However, what I think should be made completely clear is that this film is not for the faint of heart, nor should it be shown to inexperienced believers or younger audiences. Not having a level head on your shoulders or being inexperienced in your walk will probably cause you to walk away from this movie feeling lost rather than healthily challenged. First Reformed is dark. It’s tough. And I don’t think I’ll probably ever be able to shake everything I saw in this movie and everything I felt in this movie. It's a movie about a silent God, and how His followers react when He isn’t near. And this movie doesn’t end with God saying something or revealing something to our characters. It ends very uncomfortably in a way that simultaneously blew my mind and disgusted me. I may have to watch it again to form a complete opinion on it, but for now, let’s just say that First Reformed hasn’t let me stop thinking about it since I saw it. And at the end of the day, that’s really saying something.

First Reformed – 9/10

James 1:2-4