First Reformed (2018)

First Reformed (2018): written and directed by Paul Schrader; starring Ethan Hawke (Reverend Toller), Amanda Seyfried (Mary), Cedric the Entertainer (Reverend Jeffers), and Philip Ettinger (Michael): Ethan Hawke plays a pastor in upstate New York who's lost most of his faith after the death of his son and his wife's subsequent leave-taking because the son died as a military chaplain because his father urged him to join the service. 

Hawke's Reverend Toller presides over a historical church with few parishioners but a groovy souvenir ship, with that church owned and operated by a nearby MegaChurch run by Cedric the Entertainer. Whew!

I'll leave you to look up the stylistic influences on writer-director Paul Schrader. Suffice to say they result in a lot of long shots in distance and duration, very slow camera movement when the camera moves at all, and a lot of symmetrical and near-symmetrical shot compositions. It can all be almost overwhelmingly slow, especially in the first half. Stick with it, though, and the cumulative effect is affecting and somewhat mesmerizing.

First Reformed tackles several big questions in a serious way. The acting is stellar across the board. Ethan Hawke holds the whole thing together with his grim, increasingly haunted priest. Cedric the Entertainer is a revelation as the reverend of the MegaChurch, a man who can deliver a toxic sermon about anxiety while nonetheless being portrayed overall as a decent man. Amanda Seyfried is also solid, especially as she has to work with being a pregnant woman named Mary in a movie about Christianity...

How this wasn't nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and several Acting nominations... well, that's the Oscars! It's a fine, nuanced work that nonetheless manages to intelligently shock the viewer. Bonus points for having a choir sing a 2014 Neil Young song at a funeral. Highly recommended.