20 Best Indie Movies Of 2018

4. First Reformed

First Reformed Ethan Hawke
A24

Paul Schrader returns from the Hollywood doldrums with this nail-biting drama starring an Oscar-worthy Ethan Hawke as a Protestant minister facing an ethical, existential and spiritual crossroads.

Easily Schrader's best film in decades, First Reformed has all the angry vigour of a filmmaker many decades Schrader's senior, taking bold aesthetic and storytelling choices which deepen the rich characterisation of Hawke's Ernst Toller.

Amanda Seyfried meanwhile gives her strongest performance to date as a young woman whose husband Toller is counselling.

Smart and provocative, First Reformed feels at once like a classic 70s drama and something positively of-the-moment: an urgent film that's girded by the voice of an expert filmmaker.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.