Everything in Paul Schrader's life has led him to this moment; all his time spent in the seminary, his adoration (brought on by his brief career in film criticism) for the directors Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Bresson, and Carl Th. Dreyer, as well as his own prolific career as a screenwriter and filmmaker (particularly Taxi Driver and his solitary man films) culminate to a beautiful, albeit ominous head with his stunning modern masterpiece, First Reformed. The film is a thoroughly engrossing slow burn that gives you much to chew on, including its momentous final moments, and it has the potential to quite literally leave you shaken.