Paul Schrader

Master Gardener (2022)

/ Jakub Flasz / Leave a comment

If I had a penny each time I wanted to open my review with that now tattered quote from Rainer Werner Fassbinder about filmmakers being creatures of habitual obsessions compelled to revisit the well and effectively remake the same the movie over and over again by virtue of being haunted by the same artistic demons… Well, I don’t think I’d be Jeff-Bezos-rich, but I’d easily have a pound and some change for my troubles. Which is still a lot and illustrates the chokehold some obsessions hold over many artistic creators.  

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The Card Counter (2021)

/ Jakub Flasz / 1 Comment
Focus Features

Over the course of his long and illustrious career, though peppered with at least a handful of controversial works, Paul Schrader has continually revisited – be it as a director or only in screenwriting capacities – the theme of a tormented man on a mission. From Blue Collar to Hardcore and even recently to First Reformed, and even his collaborations with Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The Last Temptation of Christ and Raging Bull) many of his movies fit together thematically. 

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Would Travis Bickle vote for Trump?

/ Jakub Flasz / 4 Comments

Yes, probably. Or at least he would think it’s a good idea before seeing through his lies and deciding he must be assassinated instead. Similarly, Travis Bickle would likely think it’s a good idea to storm The Capitol and vandalize America’s epicentre of parliamentary democracy. Though, I don’t think he’d actually show up on the day, because a chaotic revolution is not his scene.  

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