The Individual, Collective, and Transcendental – ReFocus: The Films of Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader began his career as a film critic, reviewing films for his college newspaper, the Calvin College Chimes. Later at the American Film Institute, he became the editor of Cinema, a quasi-fan magazine devoted to the industry, and later for publications such as the LA Free Press and Film Comment. He wrote and co-wrote screenplays, often with his brother Leonard Schrader, before he became a director. In his conversations with Kevin Jackson, Schrader stated how screenwriting was not really writing: “it’s really part of the oral tradition and it has a lot more to do with the day your uncle went hunting and the dog went crazy and the bird got away than it does with literature.” 1 Essentially his love for cinema emanated from his love for writing. It was a way to rebel, to radicalize (it is well known that Schrader’s strict Calvinist upbringing forbade him from watching films or engaging in any so-called subversive activities), and he slowly but surely moved away from his churc...