First Reformed

2017 Directed by Paul Schrader

A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.

Ethan Hawke Amanda Seyfried Cedric the Entertainer Victoria Hill Philip Ettinger Michael Gaston Bill Hoag Kristin Villanueva Ingrid Kullberg-Bendz Ken Forman Christopher Dylan White Frank Rodriguez Gary Lee Mahmoud Joseph Anthony Jerez Sue Jean Kim Miah Issabella Velasquez Tyler Bourke Natalie Woolams-Torres Van Hansis Ramon Nuñez Delano Montgomery Satchel Eden Bell Jon Rua Otis Edward Cotton Mark Havlis Erica Fae Prudence Wright Holmes Ronald Peet Juliet Schlefer Show All…

Alternative Titles

Iskušenik, 퍼스트 리폼드, First Reformed - La creazione a rischio, Fé Corrompida, No Coração da Escuridão

drama

113 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 36

If you liked this film the first time just wait till you watch it a fifth!
Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★½ 51

can god forgive us for not nominating ethan hawke's performance?
i'm absolutely not doing it but just know that a big part of me wanted to write a will smith rap to this song over a remix of "are you washed in the blood"
Review by kevinyang ★★★★ 9

Ethan Hawke straight up devoured every other Best Actor nominee and contender and now has to watch one of them win an Oscar. No wonder he spends the entire movie wondering what the hell is wrong with the world
Review by Sean Baker 47

Solid! My fave Paul Schrader since perhaps Mishima. Love the script and much of the execution.
I just wish Schrader shot this on film or at least attempted to treat the footage some more. Right now, the digital images are simply too digital.
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 49

No, no, I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. I’m AWARE there are other films out there to watch and discover, but why would I do that when the best film of all time is available right here on Amazon Prime?
Review by kai ★★★★½ 13

me: what the fuck was that
first reformed: Unit Production Manager
WILLIAM PERKINS
Review by owen ★★★★ 6

ARE YOU WASHED
😜
👊🏼/||\_
_/¯ ¯\_
IN THE BLOOD
👋🏼
\ 😳
|| \_
_/¯ ¯\_
IN THE SOUL-CLEANSING BLOOD OF THE LAMB
😜
👊🏼/||\_
_/¯ ¯\_
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 16

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

100
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Paul Schrader’s First Reformed abides by the two. A responsibility of selflessness, compassion, and community conflicts with the desire to understand oneself, to become impersonal for the sake of solace. Reverend Toller finds the worst in both extremes – a sobering discovery in modern times. His fortress, or his homestead, mountains surrounding the border, is First Reformed Church – a last stand against Abundant Life megachurch (which Toller is subservient to), young right-wing extremists, and clear-cut religious philosophies. Toller attempts to speak for all, and he is frequently lambasted for being too vague, too opaque, lost in the mystery hanging in the air. His church is the eye in a hurricane, and it’s…
Review by Lulu ★★★★ 1

save our planet it's the only one with ethan hawke in it
Review by Jay ★★★★ 18

ethan hawke. call it thirst reformed
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 10

I know that nothing can change and that there is no hope....

(for these other 2018 movies because god damn)
Review by maria ★★★★½ 6

billy ray cyrus voice: much to think about

Recent reviews

Review by Matt ★★½

I'm not a huge fan of Taxi Driver, and I wasn't too fond of this either so it's not a huge surprise that it was written by the same person with a similar plot.
Ultimately, I don't feel like this movie had much to say in all honesty. Sure, it has big thematic elements such as: Climate change, suicide, grief, crises in faith, etc. but simply having those themes don't make a good film.
To start off, the plot progression is quite weak. Ultimately, this is another film about a guy having a nihilistic perspective about the world and feeling depressed, there's not a lot that particularly interests me with that and it doesn't do anything to really entice me…
Review by Cassie Burton ★★★

I struggled with the harsh portrait of Christianity & the Reformed tradition that this film portrayed until the conversation with Jeffers:
“you’re ALWAYS in the garden”
Since this film is not a depiction of a minister living out authentic Christianity in word and deed, I can’t take it as the challenging, exposé-style material I expected, but rather it was an interesting look into an all too common luke-warm clergyman’s life.
Paul Schrader’s scripts are always incredibly difficult for me to digest. I never know how to feel...
Review by Annabela ★★★½

first reformed ანუ დოსტოევსკი რომ ჩვენი დროის აქტივისტი ყოფილიყო
Review by Noah ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Seeing Paul Schrader on this film as a writer was a great sign. As the writer of Taxi Driver, I can see this film is extremely similar in its tone and character development. That movie is one of my all time favorites, and I thoroughly enjoy that descent into madness.
They are both initially about a man who is uncertain of his life but still mostly grounded. They then experience emotional turmoil, and as they despair in it, they deteriorate into legitimate insanity and decide to kill people. The issue here though, is that it's very much the same, but to me, not as good.
When Hawke starts thinking about actually using the vest, this film lost me. I don't…
Review by Max ★★★½

Will have to sit with this for a while. It's gorgeous to look at, and Ethan Hawke has never been better, but the pacing seemed off to me and I'm still trying to parse what Schrader is trying to say here. I will say that the ending, which I know is controversial, might be my favourite part of the whole movie — something daring and out of left field that seems to bring everything that came before into focus.
Review by thorntoncash ★★★★

this left me feeling empty. chills. one of the most well shot films i’ve seen
Review by Roberta ½

horrível
Review by DR_C00LBEANS ★★★★★

Taxi Driver remake goated
Review by Martin Lee ★★★★½

Disillusioned pastor plots are the best.
Review by Zingarina ★★★★★

I suffer from some form of affliction that makes me forget a lot of what happens in movies. Sometimes, my memory even creates some events that never happened. That occurred in First Reformed. I watched at first in 2018 and remember liking it, but that was that. This time, though, I really enjoyed the movie. Ethan Hawke presence is so strong. The way his character change to face the tragedy that overcomes him (along with past ghosts on his closet) looks very believable. The are some scenes that are remarkable, and the dialogues are very well written. As for the affliction I've mentioned, for me the ending was completely different than it actually is, but it is in fact really enjoyable. All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience.
Review by joão ★★★½

final feliz (?)
Review by Gtjoshua ★★★½

Slow and powerful with a lot to say. Would probably require a re-watch to appreciate fully all the covered hot topics but I’m good.