Schrader's 'Basics of Philosophy' Premieres at Venice — SkimNews
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- Paul Schrader's "The Basics of Philosophy" premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, starring Jack Huston as Dr. John Jorrison, a Midwestern college philosophy professor whose hidden past resurfaces when the teenager he once abused returns as an adult.
- The film stages an encounter between Jorrison and 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza (played by Karl Glusman) to confront the central question Schrader has posed since Taxi Driver: can a person change?
- Flashbacks depict Jorrison giving piano lessons to 14-year-old Miguel (Trevor Dolden) and a dance lesson that turns sexual; the adult Miguel (Daniel Zovalto) re-enters his life seeking closure, destabilizing Jorrison's engagement to Rebecca (Sofia Boutella), whose own son is the same age Miguel was.
- Supporting roles include Bill Pullman as Jorrison's father — who tries to bribe the gardener's family to make the scandal go away — plus brief turns by Dana Delany, Santiago Cabrera and Richard Gere in a blink-and-you-miss-it college scene.
- Martin Scorsese signed on as executive producer, as he did on The Card Counter; producers are Braxton Pope and David Wulf, with CAA Media Finance handling U.S. sales and Noora Films handling international.
- At 80, Schrader continues his "man in a room" template of Calvinist-rooted, guilt-driven character studies, delivering a 94-minute film that the source says is edgier than his recent output and refuses easy moral answers.
Why it matters: An 80-year-old Schrader — already an Oscar nominee for *First Reformed* — landing Martin Scorsese as executive producer for a second consecutive collaboration signals the film carries institutional weight for an awards-season push, while the source positions the Venice premiere as a reaffirmation of Schrader's signature tormented-male-protagonist template at a moment when grownup American dramas remain rare.
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