<p>Writer of TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL, director of AMERICAN GIGOLO, MISHIMA and CAT PEOPLE, veteran American auteur Paul Schrader has staged one of the most spectacular of recent cinematic comebacks with this acutely observed, character-based drama. Constructed around Oscar-tipped Ethan Hawke’s magnetic performance, it is an incisively intelligent and burningly topical film about faith, doubt, guilt and desire in the 21st century. A fortysomething clergyman of relentless self-searching introspection, Toller finds himself questioning his ethics and presumptions with renewed vigour after encountering eco-warrior parishioner Michael (a remarkable performance by previously little-known Philip Ettinger). This crisis of conscience brings Toller into conflict with his materialistically-minded religious superiors, spurring him towards increasingly “radical” perspectives – and, eventually, actions. Inspired by such classics of troubled faith as Bresson’s DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, Schrader (a scholar of film as well as being a distinguished practitioner) has crafted a visually striking, compellingly humane and thematically complex work, a transcendental mini-epic which has already earned hosannas of praise from critics and audiences all over the world. (Neil Young)&nbsp;</p>
