Frederick Lau in “Gutland.” credit: filmfund.lu
Gutland (Good Land) is the southern – central region of Luxembourg, and Govinda Van Maele has located his first feature film, Gutland (Luxembourg, 2017) there in a tiny rural farmland village called Schandelsmillen, surprisingly adjacent to Flannery O’Connor, Jim Thompson and Shirley Jackson territory. A drifting stranger, Jens (Frederick Lau), arrives looking for farmhand work – it’s pretty late in the season, and he’s rebuffed on first arrival. But one of the village girls, Lucy (a nice contrasting turn from Vicky Krieps) takes a quick liking to him, and the friendly easygoing mayor (Marco Lorenzini) finds a farming family who can use some help. The small, insular town and lifestyle require some adjustment, but Jens settles in fairly nicely. But what’s in that gym bag he buried in the woods? Why are the fathers so hard on their kids, while their wives seem to be cultivating a little swingers’ underground?
Writer / director Van Maele has created a technically well-executed short-story narrative film that never really falls into full-blown cinematic territory. The storytelling pacing is deliberate and unchanging, and there’s not a lot of tonal variety in Narayan Van Maele’s photography, although the film overall looks terrific. As a first feature that will now land him investments in his second and third, Van Maele’s film is admirably well-done. But not much will stick with you upon leaving the theater.
Periscope In The Bathtub 