First of all, let's talk about what the Reformed Church is. The Reformed Church is one of the oldest tribes of Christianity. It was founded by the Dutch in the 17th century when they colonized the East Coast of the United States, so it is also called the Dutch Reformed Church. This church believes in ancient and primitive Christian doctrines. It is very traditional and temperate. It can also be seen from this film that their lives are very low-key and simple. Forget it is broken.
The church's development to this day, the main scope of activities is still limited to a small part of the United States and Canada, almost the area of the original Dutch colonization, it can be seen that there has not been much expansion in the past 300 years. At present, there are 300,000 church members. Our town has more people than other people, and the influence is greater than it. We are the money church. Congregations of the Reformed Church are also mainly distributed in the above-mentioned areas. Headquartered in New York, it is an official organization recognized by the United States and the World Federation of Christians. This is almost the case with regard to the Reformed Church.
Our handsome old man Ethan Hawke serves as a pastor in a Reformed church in the middle of nowhere.
Hawke, as a pastor, has a Reformed taste. He dresses plainly, uses pen to record, and doesn’t say any unnecessary words. Even when facing followers who need his enlightenment, he doesn’t talk much. He mainly starts from his own experience and confides with others, but his words are very restrained because of him. The experience is very painful. It is a thorn stick. Every time you talk, you put the thorn stick on your body. The more you talk, the deeper the thorn. If you watch this movie, you will find that my analogy has ulterior motives.
Like Hawke’s temperament, the film’s tone is dark, restrained, slow and delicate, but in the middle and later stages, the director began to let himself go. After a young couple intervened in Hawke’s life like stagnant water, he changed his view of this old age. The view of the church, at least the view of a few elders, has changed sincerely and in anger. For a long time, Hawke was wearing dark clothes sitting in a dark corner and chattering. Facing the reprimands of the elders, he didn't dare to stand up. He couldn't stand up behind him, intending to let his light illuminate these saucy crows. .
Hawke's face was gloomy, and at first glance he was a keen, less-spoken and more thoughtful person. Although I did not pay much attention to him, only in terms of the movies I have watched, I feel that he has always been lying on his body with a literary and melancholic temperament, starting from "Death Poetry Society", to "The First Time", to "The End of the End" "Earth", the fateful melancholy atmosphere lingering around him has been lingering. Only in Richard Lintlake's "Trilogy of Love" and "Boyhood", he is happy. Maybe he likes to show his melancholy side in commercial movies, while swaying his sunny side in literary films. I don't know what kind of person it is in real life. There is no news.
Hawke has always been very restrained. The first is his temperance. He became a talented young man. He was a handsome boy in his youth who could fully become a big star in the spotlight. However, he has not been active in the field of literary and artistic films. He is called literary and artistic. Male god, but he himself probably doesn't know this title. Even a well-received commercial film like "At the End of the Day" is only spread word of mouth among movie fans, because its dark setting does not conform to the values of mainstream movie viewers. Secondly, his role is also very restrained. He basically doesn't see that kind of erosive and unruffled role in his private life, and he always feels clean from the inside out.
Probably because of the temperance of his life, the 48-year-old Ethan Hawke still exudes charm and handsomeness in the film "First Reformed", but at the same time, it is inevitable that people feel desperate. Watching such a film is like alcohol sliding over a mouth ulcer with a cracked tooth, slow, painful, and numb. Very unique experience.
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