As always, the subjects and stories chosen and shaped by Paul Schrader boast extraordinary cinematic power and impact. Once again, he demonstrates his distinct ability to address deeply grounded, earthly matters through a philosophical lens and with a profound spiritual dimension—distilling reality to project it into what I would call an almost metaphysical plane, while remaining anchored to it throughout.
John Jorissen, a philosophy professor at Ridgemont College, a small Midwestern institution, teaches an introductory course and is working on a book about Spinoza. Behind his orderly, repressed existence, however, lies a guilt buried for years. The sudden return of the person h...
A thirty-year-old Richard Gere rose to international fame in this noir that cemented his status as a 1980s sex symbol. Giorgio Moroder’s score frames a plot where sex and power emerge as two sides of the same unsettling coin.
Another Moroder soundtrack, highlighted by the theme song Cat People (Putting Out Fire) co-written with and performed by David Bowie. This dark fantasy-horror stars Malcolm McDowell alongside a very young Nastassja Kinski.
An adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name, scripted by Harold Pinter and premiered at Cannes, featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, and Helen Mirren.
Invited to Venice in 1997 by Felice Laudadio, Schrader brings to the screen the haunted past of a small-town policeman played by Nick Nolte (returning to the Lido this year directed by Casey Affleck). James Coburn earned the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.
The lingering psychic trauma of the Holocaust explodes in the story of Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum), indelibly scarred by a past of abuse and madness haunted by the ambiguous presence of Commandant Klein (Willem Dafoe).
Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, this film written and directed by Schrader confronts the moral powder keg of Abu Ghraib, focusing on the themes of expiation, guilt, solitude, and discipline that have defined his entire cinematic path.
