HOLLYWOOD—This might be a bit biased but being a native of the state of Michigan I know all too much about the city of Holland. So, imagine my curiosity when I heard Amazon Prime had made a movie about the quaint, small, peaceful, beautiful town that is known for its unique windmills and its flowers, in particular the Tulip Festival that draws a lot of people to the city each year.
The movie “Holland” is not what you think it is, and that is the first mistake the marketing team made with this movie. You’re presented with one idea, and once you start to watch the movie other things start to unfold. If you’re thinking this is a cutesy little drama based on some of the promos you have seen, you’d be quite wrong. The movie is more a mystery than a thriller which some people have coined. It is missing that tension and stress that you might encounter in a typical thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. I didn’t get that one bit watching “Holland.”
I was intrigued, but the filmmakers didn’t know the narrative out of the gate to where you salivate for more. The mystery stars Nicole Kidman as Nancy, a teacher, and almost Stepford Wife in this town where everyone seems to know everyone, and it is nearly impossible to keep a secret. Her marriage to Fred (Mathew MacFayden) is not in a great place. He always seems to be traveling for business, so much to the point that Nancy suspects him of having an affair.
This leads to her asking a fellow teacher Dave (Gael Garcia Bernal) to get to the truth of things. Dave is an interesting character because the viewer doesn’t know much about him. There are subtle hints, but I wish the story had dug into his past just a bit more so that I could be more invested in his character besides this odd reasoning for him to just help Nancy because she asks him to. Kidman is great as Nancy, lately the actress has been on a whirlwind portraying women in marriages that are in crisis, recently in the erotic thriller “Babygirl,” as well as the limited TV series “The Perfect Couple.”
MacFayden feels like a splitting image of his jerk character from the hit series “Succession,” but tamed down just a little, but I didn’t see as much range as I expected from the actor in this role. The first act of “Holland” is slow and it’s a chore to get through, but right when you’re about to check out, the movie finds a way to hook you and you are drawn back in and the mystery deepens in the second act where you care, before the third act, just threw me for an absolute loop and I was like “what the hell am I watching and what is happening?”
Yeah, you really won’t see it coming and I think that is the gist of the movie, not all is as it seems, and even in the quaintest of all places, you never know who you truly think you know. Secrets are aplenty, but “Holland” doesn’t flesh them out enough to satisfy you as the viewer. Just when the big climax transpires, you’re wanting more, and the movie just ends. It’s like the ending is not worthy of the buildup it takes to get there. “Holland” is a Sunday movie watch when there is not much to do, it will entertain you a little, but it won’t knock your socks off.
