The Dutchman ☆☆☆ 1/2

Starring: Andre Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Aldis Hodge and Stephen McKinley Henderson

Directed by: Andre Gains

964’s Dutchman was one of the most important plays of the decade. Written by Amiri Baraka, it had a lot to say about being a Black man in a white man’s world, along with the strain of infidelity on a marriage. Six decades later, Andre Gaines brings the off-Broadway production to the big screen with a story that matters now more than ever. Gaines directs the film and co-writes it with Qasim Basir and stacks it with a heavyweight cast including Andre Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, and Stephen McKinley Henderson. The Dutchman packs in a lot of themes into its short runtime, which results in a movie that never slows down, but doesn’t quite pack enough of a punch for the same reason. Despite some flaws, it’s held together by its two leads, Holland and Mara, with a purposely uncomfortable relationship that will keep you thinking long after the end credits stop.

When The Dutchman begins, married couple Clay (Holland) and Kaya (Beetz) are in a couples’ therapy session with Dr. Amiri (Henderson), trying to put their marriage back together after Kaya was unfaithful. Although she was in the wrong, Kaya wants to save her marriage, but Clay is lost in the pain of his wife being with another man. How can he ever just simply get over that and move on?

Clay is a downbeat, soft-spoken man, perpetually exhausted, not only because of his unravelling marriage, but by the pressure of helping his friend, Warren (Aldis Hodge), run for city council in Harlem, along with the everyday uncomfortable existence of being a Black man in America. Clay is a man of two warring ideas: how he sees himself, and how others look at him. When their session ends, Dr. Amiri gives Clay a book called Dutchman, a play he swears will change his life.

After this, The Dutchman becomes almost dreamlike, with scenes coming off as real but which are so bizarre that we wonder if this can really be happening. The drama really starts when a woman named Lula (Mara) approaches Clay on a subway train and is very upfront with how much she physically wants this stranger she just met. Will Clay give in and get his slice of revenge with this woman, and if he does, will it heal him, or collapse what remains of his breaking psyche?

If you watch The Dutchman and attempt to take everything literally, you’re going to be disappointed. Lula, in particular, can drag an audience down if the film is approached the wrong way because her character is not only wholly unlikable, but she is so over-the-top that she’s not realistic. Who would be so forward on a train and act this way? But if you see The Dutchman for what it is, a film all about themes and questions not easily answered, then it transcends past a traditional plot to become a piece of art to study and think about.

The Dutchman is ambiguous and mostly asks its audience to figure things out for themselves, outside of one unnecessary third-act conversation with Dr. Amiri that reveals too much. On one hand, the choice not to spoon-feed the viewer is welcomed in a world where today’s filmmakers treat audiences like they need everything spelled out. This film wants to make you think, and it won’t work if you’ve got one eye on the movie screen and another on your phone. However, there is so much going on, from infidelity to race, class, and mental health, that The Dutchman nearly loses its way by trying to say too much, when it would have been best to focus on one main message and drive the point home.

This doesn’t mean that The Dutchman fails. Far from it. The themes are still there in a tightly interwoven package, even if it doesn’t all work or at times starts to get too full of itself at the expense of a compelling narrative. This is the first fictional feature film from Andre Gaines, but in no way does his debut come across as amateurish. The rich and complex styles and the dark colours make The Dutchman truly feel like a play come to life, creating a feast for the eyes even as its vagueness leaves you confused at times.

The Dutchman could have been a pretentious art piece if not for Gaines restraining himself, but it’s the A-List cast who really keep everything grounded. The story has already been through a few adaptations, with Dule Hill and Jennifer Mudge playing Clay and Lula off Broadway, and Al Freeman Jr. and Shirley Knight in the roles for a 1966 black-and-white film adaptation.

Gaines packs his film with even better actors. Kaya could have been an easy-to-hate character as the cheater in a marriage, but Zazie Beetz plays her with such humility that it’s impossible to be disgusted by her. Without digging too deep into the past, she’s understood, both sensitive and strong as an apologetic woman wanting to save her marriage, but who won’t be humiliated to make it happen.

Aldis Hodge as Clay’s friend, the politician Warren, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Dr. Amiri are great, too, in their limited roles, but their characters exist to give Clay someone else to interact with or to move the plot through. The Dutchman belongs to Andre Holland and Kate Mara. Holland really broke through with 2016’s Moonlight, but even as his star has shone brighter in film and television, he hasn’t left his theatre roots behind. However, in The Dutchman, he’s not an actor wildly gesticulating or loudly proclaiming to the back row. Clay is not a performance but a deconstruction of a man who doesn’t know who he is or what he’s supposed to do. This could have resulted in a pompous portrayal, but Holland is quiet and subtle. He has morals and beliefs, yet they’re broken by the persuasion of Lula. Mara’s sneer is unnerving, like a villain in a horror movie who can be cool and collected one moment, and crazed the next. Mara is given some truly horrible things to say, ripping down Clay’s Blackness many times, but the actress doesn’t blink in the face of challenging dialogue. If she isn’t so convincing as someone so bold, Lula becomes unbelievable and crashes the entire movie.

– Courtesy: Collider.com

Rating system: *Not on your life * ½ If you really must waste your time ** Hardly worth the bother ** ½ Okay for a slow afternoon only *** Good enough for a look see *** ½ Recommended viewing **** Don’t miss it **** ½ Almost perfect ***** Perfection