Favorite films
Don’t forget to select your favorite films!
Don’t forget to select your favorite films!
After a month-long Paul Schrader complete retrospective in our home theatre, it occurs that from his first film as a director to his most recent (First Reformed), he got career-best performances from a few of his actors. Richard Pryor is superb here, backed by Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto in among their finest turns as well. That Schrader made such a powerful and assured debut at the helm was not a shock; he’d written a handful of the best films…
The film of 2018 so far for me, this return to the highest directorial form for Paul Schrader can’t seem to leave the mind weeks later. A career best performance from Ethan Hawke is only one of the wonders of this unique piece of work from an American master who hasn’t had a turn like this in quite a long time.
From CBS viewings as a child all chopped up and pan-and-scanned to recent showings in my home theater, this Sam Peckinpah masterpiece never fails to resonate.