The Cinema Cosmopolitan

Coming to the Criterion Channel June 1!

In anticipation of his latest opus, OH, CANADA, we’re revisiting the films of one of American cinema’s most provocative moral philosophers. For over forty years, Paul Schrader has probed the guilty soul of the modern world in a relentless search for existential meaning. Raised in a strict Calvinist household—a rigorous upbringing that would influence his cinematic philosophy and his study of the “transcendental” styles of directors like Yasujiro Ozu and Robert Bresson—Schrader exploded onto the scene with his screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER, an anguished howl of urban alienation that established him as one of the leading figures of the 1970s New American Cinema. Specializing in explorations of damaged souls driven to shocking extremes in their search for salvation, he has experimented with a range of styles, genres, and tones—ranging from the profoundly serious to the coolly ironic to the self-consciously sleazy—in daring works like HARDCORE, MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS, and AUTO FOCUS. Grappling with weighty themes of faith, violence, sin, and redemption, Schrader’s films are fascinating windows into his personal obsessions. Featuring BLUE COLLAR (1978) HARDCORE (1979) CAT PEOPLE (1982) MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (1985) PATTY HEARST (1988) THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (1990) LIGHT SLEEPER (1992) AFFLICTION (1997) TOUCH (1997) AUTO FOCUS (2002) THE CANYONS (2013)