Obsession was a rather bland mystery-drama which doesn’t have a whole lot going for it aside from some good cinematography however the acting from Cliff Robertson in the lead was weirder rather than endearing, and the film lacked De Palma’s flair.
First Reformed might be a technically well made drama, and Ethan Hawke does turn in an amazing performance, but I never found the story all that enthralling and in fact some of the scenes were unintentionally funny.
Paul Schrader’s drama is disturbing and excels both with the writing, also by Schrader, as well as powerful performances from George C. Scott and Peter Boyle, even if for the former it might not make the list of his top 5 roles, but it’s harrowing nevertheless.
Dying of the Light seems to be a cautionary tale as well as show the perhaps seedy side of Hollywood when a project gets taken away from the filmmaker. In fairness, and it is a distinct possibility, that there might be more to the story but the final cut we get here is a mess and worse, a boring and dull mess at that. Nicolas Cage actually wasn’t too bad and there are some interesting elements but I would’ve loved to have seen Shrader’s version.