Schrader's 'The Basics of Philosophy': Sin and Spinoza — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Paul Schrader wrote and directed 'The Basics of Philosophy,' described in the headline as his latest 'tortured-man drama' wrestling with sin and Spinoza, while the body accuses him of 'retreading old ground' with his familiar exploration of guilt and transgression.
- The film centers on a character who must perform 'intellectual work' to seek expiation for a 'vile past deed,' with IndieWire's headline reframing the same protagonist more bluntly as a 'sexually abusive intellectual' whose story is 'quietly explosive, but not dangerous enough.'
Why it matters: Both reviews land on the same thesis — Schrader pairing male sinners with philosophical inquiry — but the framings diverge in tone: the original review calls it a 'tortured-man drama' while IndieWire uses the sharper 'sexually abusive intellectual' label and judges the result only 'quietly explosive,' signaling the film provokes less than his prior work.
Ask SkimNews
