Akin goes terribly off-course with this vile and nihilistic serial killer movie, based on a true story, yet with nothing valuable to say.
Review #2,670
Dir. Fatih Akin
2019 | Germany | Crime, Drama, Horror | 106 min | 1.85:1 | German, Greek & Italian
Not rated – likely to be R21 for strong violence, sexual assault, nudity and disturbing scenes
Cast: Jonas Dassler, Margarethe Tiesel, Katja Studt
Plot: A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.
Awards: Nom. for Golden Bear (Berlinale)
International Sales: The Match Factory
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Mature/Disturbing – Serial Killer; Misogyny
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
As a German filmmaker of Turkish descent, Fatih Akin has been a mainstay in the European arthouse film circuit for the last twenty or so years. While his films can be hit or miss, nothing will prepare you for The Golden Glove, a film so vile and nihilistic that it is no surprise that it got appalling reviews from critics.
It is also a film that is so unlike Akin to have made, a serial killer movie based on a true story that puts the killer front and centre as an ‘attraction’, though there is nothing pleasurable about watching an alcoholic psychopath sadistically raping and killing women.
Set in Hamburg in the early ’70s, Akin’s film at least looks authentic to the period, and sometimes feels like it might be a spinoff from a Fassbinder film. While technically strong, with its grim atmosphere doing its job, The Golden Glove can be difficult to watch.
“Every little worm does its best.”
It’s weird because Jonas Dassler, who plays the serial killer, is superb in his role, transforming completely into one of the most abhorrent characters in film in recent memory. You can almost smell the stench of decomposing dead bodies in his apartment.
On one hand, one could praise Akin for actually making a serial killer movie that looks and feels like one, and from the point-of-view of the madman, as opposed to the glossy, stylish, sometimes neo-noir-esque investigative approach that much of mainstream American cinema tends to favour.
However, The Golden Glove has nothing valuable to say, and its highly misogynistic theme is woefully at odds with current times.
Some might compare this to Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018), which while also revolting and controversial in its own way, is a far more psychologically complex, and I daresay, intellectually provocative film.
Grade: C
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 