Paul Schrader: Writer / Director / Loner

Renowned for pioneering the “man in a room” psychological archetype, Paul Schrader’s work routinely wrestles with the dangerous friction between rigid intellectual discipline and chaotic physical temptation. Spanning crucial turning points in his career as he evolves from writer to writer-director, we follow him from gritty Hollywood prestige to highly stylised international art-house execution.

American private-eye Harry Kilmer returns to Japan to rescue a friend’s kidnapped daughter from the clutches of the Yakuza. A gritty, cross-cultural neo-noir where an American detective plunges into the lethal underworld of Japanese gangster honour. Schrader’s first screenplay lays out all the obsessions he will explore throughout his career.