Paul Schneider’s early screenwriting achievements ("Taxi Driver" and "Angry Bull" are far greater than his later directorships. When he was young, he loved movies that deeply cultivated his inner spirit. He never dared to imagine that he could shoot the same The depth of the work. It wasn’t until I had dinner with Oscar winner Paul Pavlikowski ("Sister Ida") a few years ago that "it is suitable to write such a book."
Because there is no faith and Christianity Knowledge, I dare not pretend to what extent this "moving heart" has fulfilled the director’s desire for spiritual expression. However, in terms of the fluency, observability of the film’s story and the related shooting and expression skills, "The First Return" "Zhenghui" is obviously far from the "Sister Ada" that inspired the director. The latter has the advantage of a big era of dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, but the exquisite editing has truly formed a beautiful rhythm that draws the character’s emotions and behavior to the most reasonable logic. The role of the national prosecutor and the sworn nun, the slut, and the virgin are set up against each other, allowing the story to enter the family tragedy by different routes, and cleverly telling the banal evil that may be forgotten. Paul Schneider made an unpleasant one. The "prison" that is difficult to contemplate, frame the role in a square frame, and use the pastor's preaching to environmental extremists and the voice-over of the pastor's painful diary to promote the development of the story.
Ethan Hawke plays a pastor Toller , Once served in the army. After his son died on the battlefield in Iraq, he was transferred to a local church that was more like a historical place and served as a "tour guide." Hiding under the wooden floor with obviously different colors", he explained in detail for school children and tipped tourists. Similar to the pain of losing a child that "Manchester by the Sea" tried to convey, Toller left his wife who worked in a charity organization. Married, and believe that after such a big disaster in life, it is impossible for the two to get together anymore.
At the same time, a pregnant church member Mary (Amanda Seyfried) approached her door, hoping that Toller could help her husband Michael, who was mad at environmental issues. Almost the first half hour of the film is the pastor’s work of discussing environmental extremists, to the effect that he and his wife will give birth to the child. "Believe me, the pain of losing a child will be far greater than that of a child. The suffering of the world". When the film was filmed, it was during Amanda’s pregnancy, so the young mother-to-be, who had far less performance experience than Ethan Hawke, was a pretty good finish in a movie that focused on close-ups of the characters’ faces and close-up shots of physical skills. This time the "True Performance".
(The following involves spoilers)
However, the story of the film is almost entirely supported by Ethan Hawke. After the environmental activist Michael who refused to be rescued committed suicide in an extremely terrible way, Toller, who was working hard to prepare for the church’s 250th anniversary celebration, was disappointed in the church’s realistic capabilities (he heavily relied on the chemical plant that Michael fought hard) and In the frustration of his own health status, he chose the same extreme way like a contagious disease, preferring to be broken rather than complete, to follow the God he believed in his head. The mixed sound effects of horror film types continue to push the plot to a self-destructive climax.
However, apart from a fantasy drama of "double repair and double flight" from the dilemma of a squeeze interior before the arrival of extreme choices, Toller's emotional and behavioral changes, especially his sudden belief in environmental extremism, are still very unconvincing. . Without Martin Scorsese, Paul Schneider was unable to recreate a classic scene where Travis talked to himself in the mirror in "Taxi Driver", and he had no ability like Bergman's "Silence of God" III. Like the trilogy, to create some wonderful images of "God's absence". The major change in the role is not convincing, and it makes the ending that should have been described as being forced to sway in the "Christian jihad" and "Jesus-like sacrifice"-playing a little deliberately and artificially.
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