ReFocus: The Films of Paul Schrader

Paul Schrader’s unique relationship to the role of the author (as screenwriter, director and critic) has long informed his cinema, and raises complicated questions about the definition of the auteur. This volume of essays – the first collection to assess Schrader’s contributions to directing, screenwriting and criticism – includes the first original appraisals of his much-lauded masterpiece First Reformed (2017), as well as a chapter-length interview with Schrader himself, conducted by the editors, in which Schrader examines the arc of his career for the first time and revises previous statements about filmmaking and film criticism. Providing a comprehensive exploration of his groundbreaking achievements in cinema, the book considers Schrader’s more overlooked films and provides new insights to their connection with his celebrated work in direction and screenwriting such as Taxi Driver (1976), Cat People (1982) and The Comfort of Strangers (1990). In doing so, it provides a valuable update to previous texts on Schrader and contains chapters on Schrader’s work since 2008, the publication date of the last book on his filmmaking. Where this study distinguishes itself fully is in its inclusion of a serious treatment of Schrader’s own film criticism and analytical writing. This collected writing provides unique access into how Schrader approaches the analysis of films and provides insight into his own work and others as “transcendental” filmmakers.