Tag: Paul Schrader
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The Gambler Within, The Gardener Without
After emerging out of his obscure corner of the sandbox with his most recent searing, anguished portrait of the existential ‘man in a room,’ writer/director Paul Schrader retreated even further into the mind of this character whose seemingly endless roots stretch all the way back to the screenplay for Taxi Driver. Apparently, this formula, which…
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First Reformed (2017)
Many filmmakers might have a movie like First Reformed stored away either in their mind or on paper. The trick, however, is to bring such a story to life and discover if that is even a worthy cause. Often this can come at a great cost for the filmmaker, who typically puts everything on the…
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The Canyons (2013)
The Canyons is the type of movie where it is difficult to understand how much of its tone and attitude is intentional and how much is consequential. Given its setting, the types of characters and the end results of their interactions, a case could be made in either direction. However, as a form of entertainment,…
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Adam Resurrected (2008)
Most directors have at least one movie in their filmography that can only inspire head-scratching and bewilderment at the heavens. Why, given how unusual and off-beat such a movie is, was it directed by this particular filmmaker? The simplest answer must be because an opportunity arose and he took it. Paul Schrader is nothing if…
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Auto Focus (2002)
Who, exactly, was Bob Crane? Aside from the obvious answer regarding his career and brief peak of fame as Colonel Hogan of Hogan’s Heroes, there seems to be little else distinctive that can be said of him as an actor, a husband and father, and a man. Certainly when he was popular, there appeared to…
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Forever Mine (1999)
How can a respectable filmmaker go from producing a formidable story about a man suffering from the plagues of his family to a sappy tale of love lost over years between two people who aren’t capable of saying anything of merit to one another? This is the question to ask when watching Paul Schrader’s powerful,…
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Affliction (1997)
The theme of self-destructive men attempting to achieve redemption is the major hallmark of Paul Schrader’s filmography and Affliction is no different. What does distinguish it from some of the more apparent entries is its source material: a novel by renowned author Russell Banks, whose bleak surroundings and working-class characters allow for a strong element…
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Touch (1997)
If Light Sleeper encapsulates Paul Schrader’s personal and artistic philosophy up to this point in his career, his next two endeavors cannot be so easily understood except in the sense of Schrader as a filmmaker of ever-evolving dimensions and ambitions. Schrader does not have an emotional attachment to cinema — he saw his first film…
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Light Sleeper (1992)
Light Sleeper is, perhaps, the most emblematic of Paul Schrader’s work as a filmmaker. Calling it his most personal film is not an understatement; the film is an encapsulation of all that came before and most certainly influences much of what comes after. When it was first released, many detractors complained of its overt similarities…