Reel Review From SXSW 2025: The Dutchman is a Tedious and Unnerving Mess if You Aren’t Familiar with the Source Material
A successful businessman (Andre Holland) is haunted by his failing marriage coupled with an identity crisis. After an odd encounter on the subway, Clay is drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a woman (Kate Mara) he knows nearly nothing about.
First thing you need to know about The Dutchman is that is a thriller based on the 1964 play Dutchman by Amiri Baraka. I am going to be honest in saying that I was unaware of the play and its basis as source material. That being said, take my review as a grain of salt given that my viewing experience would have most likely been substantially different if I was familiar with the play.
This film is eighty eight minutes long, relatively short for a movie, yet it felt uncomfortable long. I saw this at a late morning screening, my first of the day. At a film festival that’s the most brain power you will have going into a film but I felt so apathetic towards this movie while watching it and after.
I am a huge fan of adaptations. When done well, the source material offers a fan base and established world to launch a film into success. When executed poorly, it can feel like a cheap imitation of the original leaving fans angry and disappointed. Not being a fan of the original play, and have never read it before, I was going in blind. The best way to test if an adaptation is truly good, is if you weren’t familiar with the source material and the film can stand on its own. Unfortunately, The Dutchman does not stand on its own.
A lot of the conflict and internal anguish that Clay experiences throughout the film revolve around his race and how his life has been impacted by being a Black man in NYC. Lula is the antithesis to Clay, a privileged white woman who has never had to even consider her standing in the world. The execution of the twists in this film make you question if what Clay is experiencing lies in reality or a dream state. He makes poor decisions and throws that in the face of his loved ones.
Much of this movie feels like a dream, not just in aesthetics but in actual storyline. There are so many holes and nonsensical moments that as a viewer is very hard to make sense of and follow. I can tell that the director is trying to make commentary around the discrepancies in treatment of black men, but not exactly clear on what the purpose was. Even during the cast and crew Q&A after the screening, the cast also seemed confused and answered questions in a very vague manner.
It seems like the director wanted to adapt the play into a feature film but didn’t have a clear ideation on what he wanted to say outside of the source material. Maybe this movie wasn’t for me, or maybe it can only live in tandem with the play. Either way, The Dutchman fails to present a clear vision on what it is trying to say, leaving audiences confused and disappointed.
