"First Reformed"

 Our faith is one of those things in our life that are constantly being tested. Seeing what we are made of and how strong we can be in times of crisis. Yet there are times where we find ourselves pushed to our limit where our faith no longer seems to apply and we question everything. Usually we find our way back, but others take a more drastic approach.

Reverend Ernest Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a loyal man to his faith keeping up with the small attendance at his upstate New York church that is usually more for tourism because of its ties the Underground Railroad which he also gives tours for. While the church is approaching its 250th anniversary, one of the young loyal attendees Mary (Amanda Seyfried) ask Rev. Toller to talk with her husband Michael (Phillip Ettinger) who wants Mary to abort her pregnancy because he doesn't want to bring a child into a world where there is no hope. Rev. Toller having dealt with his own loss years ago tries to council Michael, but when he calls him to the woods one day only for Rev. Toller to find his dead body as a result of suicide, it begins a dark downward spiral of events that has Rev. Toller questioning not only his faith, but the ethics of others and if the world around him has any hope. As the events lead up to the church's anniversary event, Toller must decide if life is worth saving or if we are too late for redemption.

A twisted look on a person's breaking point and the lengths one is willing to take to make sense of their questioning faith. Ethan Hawke gives a haunting performance that is both frightening and bizarre with Amanda Seyfried balancing it out with this innocent eternal ray of hope that doesn't seem to waiver. The dynamic between them can confuse yet draw you in trying to see what move they'll make next. A four G.M.Star performance that leaves you questioning your own faith in humanity, with hope that we can find a way from the darkness.

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"First Reformed" is available at Redbox and where movies are sold/streamed.