Alexandria, VA – Ever wonder why so many US towns are named for places far, far away? Many were homages to the homelands left behind when coming to America. In the case of Holland, Michigan the founding fathers were exceedingly homesick, establishing tulip fields, working windmills, and a little Dutch boy and girl interpretation culture replete with wooden shoes and lace-heavy couture.
In “Holland,” the new film directed by Mimi Cave and written by Andrew Sodroski, there’s more going on around town than tilting at windmills between clog dancing and tulipmania. Queen of screen and stream Nicole Kidman stars with Matthew Macfayden (“Succession”) in a mystery thriller, deconstructing tulip festival hysteria as the Stepfordian wife/teacher, and her colleague uncover a secret that capsizes the postcard-picture perfect places in her heart.
The Dutch costuming throughout the film serves as a metaphor for the facades put on within and without marriage and family life. Suspicion can take the imagination along a tortured, twisted path. Lack of trust is usually not without reason. In “Holland,” the pursuit of personal truth is not without its own pervasive perils.
Kidman, who portrays the aptly-named Nancy Vandergroot, does so perfectly, as the iconic plastic, happy housewife we have seen so many times throughout her career. (She also produced the film via her Blossom Films on Amazon Prime.) That’s not to say her performance is without nuance.
The film was first screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and locally previewed via the Middleburg Film Festival, before its Amazon Prime drop on March 27. It’s the second flick for Cave, whose directorial debut in 2022 was the thriller “Fresh.”
Cave is best known for her music video direction. She has yet to deftly transcend from the music video genre to feature films with the ease shown by director Francis Lawrence. “Constantine” and “I Am Legend,” as well as five of the six (so far) “Hunger Games” franchise films directed and produced by Lawrence are cult favorites and box-office bonanzas.
Cave is nonetheless demonstrating skills with her sophomore film drop. The story at first unfurls like a time-lapse of a flower in bloom. We’re pretty confident we know where things are going – until we don’t. The comedian W.C. Fields famously advised performers to “never work with animals or children.” Might be smart to add tulips, too.
At Z MovieZ gives “Holland” seven zebra stripes out of ten, and three popcorn buckets (perhaps Gouda cheese flavored) out of five for a streaming film. Michiganers will get a pastrami jones out of the Zingerman’s Ann Arbor deli name drop. A recommended Friday night screening for the home theater.
Film NewZ
GOOD NEWZ for the ALEXANDRIA FILM FESTIVAL
MetroStage is in the final stages of its fundraising campaign to relocate to 915 N. Fairfax St. It has partnered with AFF to make the new theater its permanent screening home. Celebrating 20 years in November of 2026, one of the oldest film festivals in the DMV will be the first in-residence arts nonprofit organization sharing the dynamic new space with MetroStage.
Not only will independent films be screened at MetroStage throughout the festival, scheduled for Nov. 5-8, 2026, there will be special screenings and events held year-round. One screening was held at The Lyceum, where MetroStage has been hosting Sunday salons and musical performances while awaiting their theater space opening provided by CarrAmerica at the Venue condominium.
“The Poppaw Queen” is a documentary film by DC-native filmmaker Malachi E. Robinson that was screened by the AFF on Feb. 21 in recognition of Black History Month. The story centers on the chronicles of freeborn Mary Queen’s quest for her purloined freedom as one of 272 enslaved people sold by the Jesuits of Maryland to fund the establishment of Georgetown University by Father John Carroll. Robinson is a direct descendant of Mary Queen.
The descendants of these nearly 300 human beings – trafficked to Louisiana by Alexandria slave traders – are depicted in the documentary. The university has been duly fielding the recriminations of such inauspicious roots, making reparations to family members, many of whom still live in Louisiana.
Robinson participated in a post-film Q&A moderated by AFF Chair Dara Sanders along with Bernie Cook, Associate Dean of Georgetown College and founding director of Georgetown University’s Film and Media Studies Program. Cook is currently working on a documentary of his own, spotlighting the stories of the living descendants of these enslaved people while exploring their personal pursuit of justice. The doc seeks to answer this question: How do you reconcile such profoundly injurious actions, putting a price on the inhumanity of freedoms violated under an umbrella of faith?
MetroStage and AFF will be participating in Spring2ACTion on April 9. Consider giving if you can.
ICYMI: Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter Musical Is the Hilarious High We All Need
