Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
First Reformed
Director: Paul Schrader (“American Gigolo,” Auto Focus”)
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Michael Gaston
Details: Premiering at the Venice Film Festival in August and scoring easily his best reviews since “Affliction” almost two decades ago, filmmaker Paul Schrader returns to respectability with this drama about grief and guilt which A24 picked up immediately after that festival and are set to release early in the new year.
Ethan Hawke stars as an ex-military chaplain who is tortured by the death of his soldier son whom he encouraged to enlist. His faith is further challenged by a young woman (Amanda Seyfried) and her radical environmentalist husband come to him for counselling. In an unusual choice, experimental Welsh musician Lustmord is doing the score.