Paul Schrader, a filmmaker often linked with the 'movie brat' generation, forged a distinct path. His upbringing in a strict Calvinist household initially limited his film exposure, yet this fostered a deep, critical engagement with the medium upon his eventual study. Schrader's directorial and screenwriting work is characterized by a profound interest in transcendental cinema, drawing inspiration from directors like Bresson and Ozu, a passion he explored in his critical writings. His films are known for their bold stylistic and thematic explorations, often operating within the Hollywood framework while pushing its boundaries.
A study of loneliness, crime and retribution that makes a third panel for the triptych which began with "Taxi Driver" and "American Gigolo". John le Tour is an up-market drug-dealer who has turned 40 and is facing a turning point in his life as his boss is about to quit drug-dealing.
Provides a set of dialogues with one of the writer-directors in American film.
A loner, Travis Bickle, takes up driving a taxi in search of an escape from his sleeplessness and his disgust with the corruption he finds around him. His pent-up rage, fuelled by his doomed relationship with a political campaign worker, leads to an inevitable descent into psychosis and violence.
Already widely cited and used in courses in film studies, film genre, and art and avant garde film, this updated edition situates Transcendental Style, forty-five years later, as part of a larger movement in post-war cinema, the Slow Cinema movement.
Called “an ecstatic, arc-bright wonder and terror” by The New Yorker, this major work of art now receives a first printing, featuring a brilliant introductory essay by Masha Tupitsyn. This Academy Award-nominated screenplay is one of the greatest and most urgent in Paul Schrader’s long and decorated career. Called a “portrait of a soul in torment, all the more powerful for being so rigorously conceived and meticulously executed” in the New York Times, First Reformed follows the Rev. Ernst Toller as his crisis of faith coincides with a recognition of looming environmental catastrophe. It is an uncompromising work that seamlessly synthesizes a tribute to Bresson with a profound, existential meditation on the everexpanding devastation that humanity is spreading over the natural world. The crowning late period achievement for an undisputed legend of screenwriting, this is both a master class in concision, depth and emotional range, and a continually relevant work of activist import.
