Film Review: THE DUTCHMAN (2025): Andre Gaines’ Film Tackles A Lot of Powerful Issues in a Stylish and Mostly Effective Manner
The Dutchman Review
The Dutchman (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Andre Gaines, written by Qasim Basir, Amiri Baraka and Andre Gaines and starring André Holland, Kate Mara, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zazie Beetz, Aldis Hodge, Lauren E. Banks, Tracy Wilder, Lenny Platt, Benjamin Thys, Shonica Gooden, Lazarus Simmons, Sally Stewart, Tony Torn, Kevin Tyler Rodriguez, Hyunmin Rhee, Natasja Naarendorp and Michael Laurence.
Andre Gaines’ ambitious drama, The Dutchman, has plenty of Fatal Attraction vibes, yet the movie has the feel of something entirely different. The back and forth dynamic between the two lead characters, Clay (André Holland) and Lula (Kate Mara), is unique and the movie never takes shortcuts when trying to arrive at any of its given conclusions throughout the course of the picture. That being said, it often feels like the film bit off a little more than it could chew as it explores diverse topics with integrity, but without enough explanation that would make the film more accessible to mainstream audiences.
Set mostly on a subway train in the city, Clay meets the sexy Lula who brings up provocative topics to Clay as they move full speed ahead. Lula says that Clay is looking at her through the reflection in the subway window whereas Clay tries to suggest that though he did, indeed, see her, he was not staring at her, contradictory to what she is suggesting. Clay is black and Lula is white which wouldn’t be an issue in a film that didn’t want it to become an issue. This film does play with that major detail as the director tries to draw parallels between the situation at hand and the greater picture regarding race perceptions and relations in America today. Later in the movie, Lula refers to Clay as an “Uncle Tom,” but Clay fights back at her assertions in a compelling and ferocious manner.
Stephen McKinley Henderson (Civil War) co-stars in The Dutchman as Dr. Amiri who is trying to help Clay with his marriage to Kaya (Zazie Beetz, good, but underutilized). Kaya has cheated on Clay and the couple is trying to rebuild their marriage at the film’s start. McKinley Henderson plays a few parts here as the voice of reason who tries to foreshadow what could possibly become of Clay under the given circumstances he faces within the story line. McKinley Henderson is a fine actor and is well-cast even if he appears one time too many in the picture for the film’s own good.
This film plays out with a steamy connection between Clay and Lula. They do become intimate together. She acts out whenever he tries to get rid of her and people seem to believe her more than him, given their roles in society. Lula tells Clay she’s not an actress even though she has some stories to tell which may or may not be true. When a character known as Mystic Lady (Sally Stewart) drops some things at the bottom of the stairs on the subway platform early on, she connects with Clay and you can bet that this character will come into play later in the movie. Aldis Hodge, quite good, also co-stars as Warren, Clay’s colleague, who has big plans for the future.
Many of the scenes are a push and pull between Clay and Lula. The viewer will wonder which way they’ll turn next in terms of their dialogue exchanges, but the movie never really successfully ties everything together in a wholly satisfying manner. This film is very stylish and quite thought-provoking, though. It has a history as a story that has been told before although this new version expands on the themes significantly and updates them to modern times.
Kate Mara is amazing in her best screen work to date. She is the quintessential beautiful woman who teases Clay with an apple in a scenario straight out of Adam and Eve. Mara’s character smoothly moves along the story line, sometimes switching her shoes in a provocative manner that will frustrate audiences in the way the filmmaker intended. By having Lula dress sexy and remove her panties at one point, the temptation is believable for the lead character, Clay. Holland is well chosen as the man who needs to find common ground with his wife and has to overcome incredible hurdles to do that. When Clay meets Lula, she rocks his world in a way that has a mostly negative effect on him and then some. Holland has some difficult scenes towards the end here which he handles extremely well.
Don’t expect The Dutchman to offer any cookie-cutter answers regarding the delicate topics at its disposal. It helps to have familiarity with the source material going into this film, but the new picture is still enjoyable even without prior knowledge of it. That’s because the direction is first-rate and the suspense builds in a way that even though one wishes the movie was more of a cut-and-dried thriller, it is easy to embrace the clever qualities that shape the essence of the film. This movie presents its topics convincingly and is always one step ahead of the audience which, admittedly, isn’t always fair to the every day viewer. The Dutchman is still a suspenseful tale of seduction that will stir up conversations afterwards.
Rating: 7/10
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