PAUL SCHRADER’S FIRST Reformed is boldly, beautifully batshit. Reverend Ernst Toller, loyally trudging on at his tiny, mostly empty First Reformed church, might well be a distant cousin of Schrader’s own Travis Bickle, consumed with existential malaise, tipped over the edge after meeting a man nihilistically obsessed with climate change. The film is infused with doom, darkly hilarious in its extremities. And as Toller, Ethan Hawke radiates utter conviction, revelling in the madness.
Hawke is magic here. For the most part, in line with Schrader’s style this time, he is patient, still, focused — yet a man possessed. There’s a moment where he is being offensively aggressed by somebody, and the look in his eyes could kill you. And when he flips, it is joyous. Hawke…