For Ulrich Thomsen’s sophomore feature, he presents a social satire in which a German sausage maker takes on a group of white, Christian men in the small American town of Gutterbee.
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Jimmy (W. Earl Brown) takes ownership of the small Gutterbee community; he runs the bizarre crime scene there – trying to keep foreigners at bay – and commemorates himself through cabaret and social events. He’s very much the picture of a MAGA supporter, right down to the neglected son he just refers to by first name: Hank (Joshua Harto). Despite his power though, few actually take a liking to their self-proclaimed leader; even his former associate Mike (Anthony Starr), fresh out of jail, wants to cut ties with Jimmy. When trying to find a new live trajectory, Mike stumbles upon German newcomer Edward Hofler (Ewen Bremner) in a bar one night; Hofler owns the chapel and has plans to outfit it as a restaurant specialising in German sausages so the pair team up for this endeavour but have to face the disgruntled Jimmy – and his loyal, racist supporters – in doing so.
If there’s one thing Gutterbee isn’t, it’s subtle. Thomsen’s screenplay is a politically charged bull in the china shop that is the political landscape at the moment. Whilst the commentary on bigotry and social injustice offers a fascinating approach to the material, it mostly feels at odds with the eccentric, idiosyncratic humour Thomsen goes for. The blend doesn’t work and it often comes across as clunky and heavy-handed in what it wants to say. The screenplay feels like it’s trying to pull off more than it can – juggling all the characters, the various social angles, the comedy, the subplots – and sadly it cracks under the pressure.
As soon as sheriff T.J Brown (Chance Kelly) – also on narrating duties – breaks the fourth wall in a hope to set the scene in the film’s opening, the attempts at humour feel forced. Thomsen wears his influences on his sleeve and his attempts to capture the edge of great Danish cinema are admirable, though it is at times undercooked, occasionally overdone, mostly convoluted and lacking real focus. Even the performances feel strained; Starr and Bremner’s dynamic struggles to evoke any sort of camaraderie or friendship but they’re not given much to work with in the way of nuanced dialogue or character arc. There’s admittedly a great deal of intrigue from the set-up and the finale commits so hard to its absurdity that it almost pulls it off but, sadly, Gutterbee leaves much to be desired.
Gutterbee was reviewed at GFF 2019.
