First Reformed / 2018 / 1hr&57mins / Rated 15

This A24 2017 psychological drama from one of American cinema's most revered artists follows Ethan Hawke's Reverend Ernst Toller as he leads a devoted but tiny congregation in upstate New York. Dissatisfied with a parish that is little more than a roadside tourist attraction, Toller's crisis of faith is deepened further following a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist as spiritual and ecological anguish collide.

"This is [Schrader's] transcendental style at its sharpest: its climactic stylistic leaps demand an exhilarating suspension of disbelief, and its homage sequences illustrate a necessary repetition, evoking the recurring human tendency toward self-destruction" Reverse Shot, Chloe Lizotte.

With an Academy Award-winning screenplay, Paul Schrader's First Reformed is a masterclass in restrained filmmaking - a grisly rumination on faith, guilt, and how our convictions will eventually eat us all alive.