The Last Temptation of Christ vs. Silence?

The only recent major film that even comes close to comparing with “First Reformed” along those lines is Martin Scorsese’s “Silence.”

Yes, but that one is really half-and-half. I remember saying to my cinematographer that that was a good example of how to do something half-right. The half of him that knew that he had to be quiet and silent and wait was always fighting the half that wanted to run around because he is, by nature, more of a street entertainer. He is not an ascetic by nature and so he keeps struggling with this. For long patches, he does everything right—no music, static images—and then, all of a sudden, there will be an action scene. Also the acting—you can’t have people doing what Adam Driver was doing in that film and expect to get to anything resembling a spiritual space. That is the difference between a lean-away film and a lean-into film. “Silence” is quite schizophrenic in that it leans away and then it all of a sudden starts leaning in—I just don’t think you can have it both ways.