First Reformed (2017, Paul Schrader)

Such Bressonian Bergmanism. Bergssonic. With a bunch of other movies, some obvious, some had to be pointed out to me by Schrader, who is not afraid of naming his specific influences in interviews. Such a tormented Ethan Hawke, meant to be a calm and calming priest but falling apart in real-time, haunted by Amanda Seyfriend and her late husband and corporate malfeasance and man’s destruction of the earth and the terrible absence of God. Such a lovely, ambiguous ending. Such the movie of the year.

“If you’re optimistic about the world as it now is, you’re just simply not paying attention.”