Gutland (2017) User Reviews

Mixed bag of amazing and confusing scenes.

[jump-man95 · 5/10 · 29 September 2018]

Even though there are some really cool things that go on, the film does not fully come together to be as great. I think it's becuase it came off as confusing unconnected parts but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense.

I love how the time I shown through out the film.

I love the parts where he is slightly buzzed.

The scene in the wheat field is so tense.

The charcter development was kind of wierd but makes sense in the end.

There are some really great scene in the film that make me excited to see what projects he does next.

It does make sense in a lackadaisical world

[killercharm · 7/10 · 21 February 2020]

• good sense. A German robber hides out in a small Luxembourger town to give his crime time to cool down. While hiding he becomes accepted by the small village and of himself. All of a sudden he has a job, he plays trumpet in a band where he couldn't even read music before. He gets a house, a woman, a son, and best of all, a dog. Finally, he even shaves his face and cuts his hair. How did this happen over the course of one summer?

A nightmare for existentialists. The way the world should be

[johnmarklody · 7/10 · 12 May 2019]

Gutland is billed as horror/suspense, but only if you're a postmodern existentialist. To me it is a story of redemption and the triumph of justice over evil. Wholesome values over egocentric self absorption. Jens is accepted into the rural culture at first, then he's on trial until he proves himself willing to reform and become worthy of the community trust. Finally, the rural community intervenes to save him and his new family from his criminal past, and he is elevated to respected status in the community. It is a good-land, indeed!

Existentialists beware! You may find your authentic existence stolen by true justice and traditional values! Horror of horrors!

Bizarre and doesn't quite work

[Phil_Chester · 13 October 2018]

A bit weird, actually. It kind of works and then develops in a surreal direction. There are narrative promises and possibilities set up, but never paid off. All in all, a bit frustrating to watch, especially as some really important bits are never explained.

Gutfilm!

[Hussite · 7/10 · 20 March 2019]

Other reviewers have already done a good job explaining what this movie is about. However, anyone who gives a movie a perfect score loses some credibility. It was good, but has it's flaws like any movie.

Who should watch this movie?

If you like a slow burn that's full of atmosphere, beauty, and steeping with anxiety throughout, you probably will not be disappointed. Think Hereditary meets Badlands (the Martin Sheen Badlands) and Of Mice and Men (If that's even possible to imagine.)

I was a bit irritated by the inaccurate subtitles because I hate with translators take their own liberties with their source material. But I'm not going to fault the film for that and it didn't detract from the story at all.

Who shouldn't watch this movie?

If you don't sprechen Deutsch or hate reading subtitles you should probably move on.

If you don't enjoy a slow expositive narrative expounded through long static camera shots, pantomime expression, and an overall feeling of apathy until the whole story is wrapped up and you can appreciate the forest for the trees, shrubs, brush, and snag.

Then you'll probably be bored out of your gourd.

I'll be looking forward to the next Govinda Van Maele flick!

Confusing And Bland, But I Did Make It All The Way Through Just To Learn The Mystery About Jens

[sddavis63 · 2/10 · 8 August 2019]

A German drifter arrives in a village in Luxembourg looking for work on a farm. He finds work. He works hard. He meets a girl. They have sex. Several times. He meets a dog too. Thankfully, he doesn't have sex with the dog. For half of the run time of this movie - that's the story. That's it. For a movie that bills itself as a "thriller" - there are no thrills in that first half of the movie. Literally none. I'll concede that there's some mystery. Who is this drifter? Why is he there? Really? There's more to this than him looking for work. That mystery gets cleared up at about the halfway point when we learn who Jens is and why he's in the village. And the village itself it a strange one with strange people who apparently shoot amateur porn on the side when they're not harvesting corn.

At that halfway point the movie does begin to take a bit of a darker turn, and as it progresses you begin to wonder what the mix is between fantasy and reality - and I confess I was left wondering whether the whole thing was a fantasy played out in Jens' head. The last scenes of the movie seemed ambiguous; confusing. I was left with a sense that there was no real closure involved with this and questioning what was "real."

It's rated highly. I have to give it that. Sometimes, though, I really do believe that people have a tendency to rate foreign language films highly because they're foreign language films - almost as if it's a sign of being cultured. And, of course, you start to see reviewers talking about the "great cinematography" - because what else are you going to talk about to justify rating it so highly? And there was some great cinematography here - some beautiful shots of rural Luxembourg. But it really didn't make up for a confusing and rather bland story. (2/10)

Boring german speaking crap

[edlc1970 · 1/10 · 3 September 2018]

I cant for the love of god, understand why anyone, would give this crap, more than 1?? Its lame, its boring. You follow this long haired german in a village, with boring german dialouge. And Nothing happens? Its a complete waste to watch this "movie" Take my advice, and spare your self of 1:47 hours of utterly boredom.

The De-Evolution of a Simple Being into a Cultured Brute

[jillscheintal · 8/10 · 15 January 2019]

Frederick Lau plays the neanderthal-like drifter and Vicky Krieps is the wild-feminine in Govinda Van Maele's movie that metaphorically explores the moment at which a pure being becomes simultaneously spoiled-to-his-soul, yet capable of succeeding in "society." Much in Europe lately has been made of neanderthals being a common genetic precursor in Europeans, and that they are considered to have been kinder, simpler, and more egalitarian than the human beings that overtook them. Lau's drifter has a built up brow and heavy features of a being not at ease with the modern world, and as he becomes domesticated, his wide nose, heavy brow, and thick hair diminish. Even though he seems to feel the scenery viscerally, and has an innate sense of decency (as when he stops the farmers from brutally punishing the children), he's also possessive of his lover, and incapable of clear communication. As he (who ends up being a robber--someone unable to succeed with integrity at urban life) becomes more affected by and accepted by the villagers around him, he simultaneously becomes less himself: less perceptive, more brutal, less sensitive to his surroundings, which is expressed in a sexually violent scene with Krieps. The treasure of this movie is that it is a metaphor for all that human beings trade in terms of authenticity for becoming part of society, especially one that has a brutal history. To become included, Lau's character not only gives up all that made him an instinctive, holosapient being, but ultimately, completely loses himself.

Step by step transformation of a man

[zarathustra-14 · 10/10 · 9 June 2018]

As someone who lives in Luxembourg for several years I went to see this movie this evening. Just came back. Be warned this is not the mainstream kind of movie with car chases and pouring with gun shots (although there are some in it ;) ). But if you like beautiful scenery, great cinematography, flawless acting (and some sexual scenes) and a great story - this is it! It is in the style of The Wicker Man or Bergman movies. The story is catching from the very beginning. While it develops slowly, step by step, it is almost like a teasing - I never felt bored. The end is with a twist and the story is actually a metaphore trying to capture the soul of this country. It lives you with an emotional aftertaste which only great movies can deliver. I look forward to buy it on DVD to watch it again later.

a German thief who flees to a small Luxembourg village only to discover that the locals have secrets of their own.

[contact-742-500835 · 10/10 · 7 October 2017]

After a successful heist, casino robber Jens crosses the German/Luxembourg border with a bag full of cash and arrives at the rural town of Gutland. At first the locals are not welcoming, but when Lucy, the governor's daughter spends the night with Jens, everyone's demeanor changes and he's immediately offered a job as a farmer and a place to live in. If this sounds like things are going too good to be true, you're right. Gutland is a film full of ominous dread, there's a sense of suspicion at what may lay beneath the surface of the sleepy folkloric town.

GUTLAND directed by Govinda Van Maele is a slow burn thriller in the vein of THE WICKER MAN (the original, not the blasphemous remake) where a stranger arrives at a seemingly idyllic town only to discover that there's something ominous going on and despite his better judgment and warning signs he's still compelled to stay. There are two type of thrillers at play: the mundane heist and its aftermath which anchors the film in the real world and the more bizarre almost supernatural (but maybe not) mystery surrounding the village and its denizens. This is a balancing act that in other filmmaker's hands would be a jarring collision of tones and genres, but in Van Maele's hands becomes a seamless junction that introduces us into the village of Gutland the same way that Jens does, we come from a world of robberies and petty crime and we enter uncharted territory, and we stay until its inevitable final moments.

Van Maele's eye captures the beauty of the Luxembourg country side as a means to distract us from what is really going on, a way to get us to see things from the point of view of Jens. It combines film Noir elements with rural horror that verges into European folklore. An atmospheric mystery which further grabs hold of us and doesn't let go, much like the town does to Jens.

GUTLAND is equal parts beautiful and creepy, it gets under the skin and dies there long after the credits roll.

Review by Enrrico Wood Lagonigro - Senior Curator Oaxaca FilmFest.

Feeling in your gut(land)

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 20 March 2021]

I get it! If you like things to be more coherent, this may not really be your thing. And I don't even mean that you may like things spoon fed to you (although I am not judging either), but that this is as surreal as they come. I am even going to pretend to say I understood or can break the movie down entirely. There is so much that can be interpreted and are ripe for another viewing ... and even then, it would be up to the viewer.

The movie is quite sexual and quite violent. Sometimes both at the same time ... and weird too. Well the situations it creates around abuse and/or intercourse/sexuality ... they fit right into the whole surreal enviroment. They add to the mood and they also tell a story - a genre piece from Germany that works. Something I like to say rather than dislike an effort made here, because there aren't many of these types of movies made - comedies and dramas pay off better, especially when it comes to making money for the producers.

So if you can relish in a very good but also very strange (for all the right reasons) movie from Germany