CRIMNAL CASES

THE DUTCHMAN

2025 / 94 min / color

André Gaines’s film, a highlight of SXSW, is a tightly wound psychological thriller based on the iconic 1964 play by Amiri Baraka. The writer and playwright, and subsequently the director, has woven themes of racial tension, class divisions, and identity into an unsettling narrative. The story centers on Clay (André Holland), a successful Black businessman striving to save his marriage through therapy. His life is turned upside down one evening on the New York subway when a seductive, self-assured stranger named Lula (Kate Mara), sits down next to him. A dangerous intellectual game begins almost immediately: Lula ruthlessly exposes Clay’s vulnerabilities, striking at his sense of masculinity and self-confidence. The more Clay attempts to defend himself, the deeper he sinks into her trap. Reminiscent of Adrian Lyne’s 1980s classic Fatal Attraction, Gaines’s film heightens its stifling, tension-filled atmosphere with sharp social commentary on the complexities of race relations in modern America.