AUSTIN – A work that’s fascinating to discuss and grapple with while not being wholly successful at what it seems to be ultimately setting out to do, director Andre Gaines’ narrative feature debut “The Dutchman” is both a mighty big swing of a film as well as a more confined character study of sorts. Though it’s an interpretation of the late Amiri Baraka’s much-discussed 1964 play “Dutchman” (whose previous cinematic adaptation was long thought to be lost to time, though it has since been given new life), it is also one that carves out its own distinct territory and leans into the surreal elements of its source material. There is much that is the same in terms of its initial narrative focus, which centers on a lone Black man named Clay (André Holland) who is accosted by a white woman named Lula (Kate Mara) on the subway, the performances are more pointedly confrontational as Gaines soon expands outward into the rest of the city and inward into the psyches of its characters. What we find there is muddled, rather intentionally so, as the film attempts to modernize and expand its story to mixed, yet still oddly riveting, results. 
Notably, this is all framed around a new conversation we are dropped into between Clay, his wife Kaya (Zazie Beetz), and their self-referentially named couples therapist, Dr. Amiri (Stephen McKinley), who is listening to them discuss their problems. This is merely the beginning of how Gaines puts his film in conversation with Baraka’s play, as this text is something that is literally given to Clay for him to read at the conclusion of their session in the hope that it will help him or at least, as we hear in McKinley’s measured voice, stop him from repeating past mistakes. The meta nature of this is deepened as all that has been written soon begins to happen to Clay as he encounters Lula on the subway and can’t seem to get her away from him. Holland plays the character with a greater sense of snark as he initially resists the advances and tries to make his way to the fundraising party he is putting on. But as the tension continues to build, with Lula tormenting him with increasingly racist remarks, he’ll soon find he could be in very real danger. 
Though the original play always had a real sense of dread, and much of the dialogue is lifted directly from it, “The Dutchman” is made into much more of a psychological thriller. This bold choice requires adding much to the story, though this, too, ends up feeling lifted from other works. There are almost echoes of the films Charlie Kaufman in terms of how Clay’s insecurities manifest themself, just as there is a scene that feels like an extended reference to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” in the way the score rises up as it pulls back the curtain on itself.
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This can be more perplexing than it is entirely poetic, as much of the power of the original story came from how confined it was, playing as a slice-of-life portrait of two people who also offered up provocations about race in America. Gaines maintains some of these provocations and finds some of his own in a standout party sequence, though they don’t coalesce into a compelling whole. Instead, the film wanders, drags, and folds in on itself, offering up what could be more potentially rich reflections on life and agency that end up getting lost in the shuffle.  
What grants the film greater impact and grace is Holland, who again proves he’s one of our most mesmerizing screen presences. Just as he did in the upcoming “Love, Brooklyn,” he can capture his character’s multifaceted flaws and vulnerabilities with just a simple glance. The more he seems to try to disentangle himself from the situation, the more it is like he is getting sucked in further and further. If anything, his descent in the film carries the greatest weight, as we can see the growing sense of sadness in his eyes. When he then must give a couple of key monologues that tie everything together, he pulls off the tricky balancing act between overwhelming passion and petrifying fear. On the other hand, Mara is undoubtedly going for it, though she often feels like she is not quite striking the necessary balance between charisma and cruelty. This isn’t for lack of trying, but it’s hard to shake the sense that the shift into this being more of a thriller required her flexing muscles she isn’t quite as familiar with. That’s even before the film takes one final leap.
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While the original play certainly called attention to some of the strange elements that were playing out and dipped its toe into the surreal, like when Clay remarked on how there suddenly were a lot more people who had joined them on the subway, “The Dutchman” dives all the way in. Time is flipped on its head as Clay gets what seems to be another chance at … well, that’s not entirely clear. His life? His marriage? Just this encounter? This is also where it loses a handle on so much of the potency of the material and Holland’s performance. Watching it try to reach for greater meaner all the same is still fascinating, even when much slips through its fingers. While Gaines loses much in leaving the more reserved yet still shattering original end of the play behind, there remains something haunting to it all the same when it arrives at its final stop. [C+]
“The Dutchman” had its World Premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival.
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