Have you seen Paul Schrader's newest film First Reformed? Schrader is a Calvin alumnus, so it has created a buzz around the Calvin community. The film was screened back in February to a select audience of ticket holders at Celebration Cinema (North), but now it's out generally (opened May 18).

The Wall Street Journal, Sunday, June 2 - 3 has a review of First Reformed and an interview with the author (section C, p. 6). It follows the struggles of a minister whose son has died in the Iraq War. "The film touches on themes of faith, guilt, and self-destruction,and the viewer is left to wonder what the minister's motivations are."

Schrader also directed Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and American Gigolo, among others. He also wrote the screenplay for The Last Temptation of Christ which provoked a fierce backlash from Christian groups.

Hekman Library's Christian Reformed Church Periodical Index includes many articles and film reviews about Schrader and his work. There are also a couple of interviews. Here are a select few to check out (none are full-text online):

• "Taxi Driver and the Savage Cinema." Leonard Sweetman, Dialogue. Nov. 1977.
  LH1 .C3 D5.
• "Hardcore." Randall J. Vander Mey. Insight. Sept. 1979, p. 24-25. BV4530 .A1 Y6.
• "An Interview with Paul Schrader." Paul Schrader and Garry Wills. Perspectives. Aug.-Sept., 2001. BX9501 .P4.
• "Theological Parables in Paul Schrader's Films." Rober J. Palma. Perspectives. Aug.-Sept., 2001, p. 13-15, 18. BX9501 .P4.
• "Schrader's Hardcore Calvinist - a Pilgrim Without Progress." Irvin B. Kroese. The Banner. March 2, 1979, p. 21. BX6801 .B3.