Directed by Paul Schrader
13 Episodes
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.
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01:08Episode 1Directed by Paul Schrader Teaser
Episode 1
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1:54:21Episode 2Affliction
Episode 2
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1997 • United States
Starring Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James CoburnDriven by powerhouse performances from Nick Nolte and an Oscar-winning James Coburn, Paul Schrader’s searing adaptation of the novel by Russell Banks is an emotionally intense exploration of family, ...
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1:53:36Episode 3Blue Collar
Episode 3
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1978 • United States
Starring Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet KottoPaul Schrader’s hard-nosed directorial debut features searing performances by comic great Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto. Fed up with the indignities of factory work, three disgru...
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2:01:31Episode 4Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Episode 4
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1985 • Japan, United States
Paul Schrader's visually stunning, collagelike portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between s...
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1:44:50Episode 5The Comfort of Strangers
Episode 5
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1990 • United States
Starring Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha RichardsonTwo couples are drawn into a dark psychosexual vortex in Paul Schrader’s stylish take on the erotic thriller. Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson are a British couple hoping to repa...
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Hardcore
Episode 6
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1979 • United States
Starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season HubleyPaul Schrader’s potent sophomore feature stars George C. Scott as a conservative Calvinist businessman from the Midwest who is drawn into California’s pornographic underground as he searches for...
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1:58:07Episode 7Cat People
Episode 7
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1982 • United States
Starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John HeardPaul Schrader’s kinky-stylish reworking of the 1942 Val Lewton classic transfers the action to a voodoo-spooky New Orleans, adds an incestuous undercurrent, and ups the sex and gore. Nastassj...
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1:44:01Episode 8Patty Hearst
Episode 8
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1988 • United States
Starring Natasha Richardson, William Forsythe, Ving RhamesWho was the real Patty Hearst? Built around a remarkable performance from Natasha Richardson, this chilling biopic explores the many dimensions of one of the twentieth century’s most contr...
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1:39:41Episode 9The Canyons
Episode 9
Directed by Paul Schrader • 2013 • United States
Starring Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Gus Van Sant“American Psycho” author Bret Easton Ellis and acclaimed director Paul Schrader join forces for this daring and infamously divisive erotic thriller about youth, glamour, sex, and surveillance. Manip...
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1:43:25Episode 10Light Sleeper
Episode 10
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1992 • United States
Starring Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana DelanyWillem Dafoe stars in this moody character study as John LeTour, a drug dealer who faces a midlife crisis now that his supplier (Susan Sarandon) wants a change of career. LeTour reencounters an ol...
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1:45:52Episode 11Auto Focus
Episode 11
Directed by Paul Schrader • 2002 • United States
Starring Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita WilsonPaul Schrader delves into the seedy underbelly of fame in this darkly compelling look at the life and times of actor Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear), who found fame as the clean-cut star of the sitcom “Hog...
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Touch
Episode 12
Directed by Paul Schrader • 1997 • United States
Starring Bridget Fonda, Christopher Walken, Skeet UlrichPaul Schrader’s recurring search for the divine in contemporary America gets an offbeat, darkly comic spin in this adaptation of a (non-crime) novel by Elmore Leonard. After he witnesses a y...
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24:09Episode 13Paul Schrader in Conversation
Episode 13
A legendary screenwriter, director, critic, and cinephile whose work searches for spiritual salvation in the modern world, Paul Schrader did not in fact see a movie until he was a teenager—a result of his being raised in a strict Calvinist household that forbade filmgoing. In this edition of Adve...
