True Crimeis well-treaded territory for horror.
Through every era,portrayals of serial killersstand out.
The Golden Glovefollows serial killer Fritz Honka (Jonas Dassler) through a series of murders.
Image via Strand Releasing
From 1970 to 1975,Honka murdered at least four women in Hamburg.
The film is grotesque from the start, depicting Honkas 1970 crime as he brutally disposes of the body.
The film then jumps to 1974, following Honka until his arrest.
While the scenes of assault and murder are intense,the film offers more than gratuitous violence.
In between harrowing murder scenes, Akin explores other patrons of The Golden Glove.
It is an ensemble of warning signs.
Fritzs brother, Siggi (Marc Hosemann), binge-drinks over his wife leaving him years before.
Prepare to have your expectations smashed.
To varying degrees, the world around Honka agrees with him.
His beliefs are confirmed by the mens dialogue.
Women are dehumanized in this depiction, with or without Honka’s crimes.
The women Honka harms exist somewhat out of focus.
By extension of Honkas disinterest, we never get to know them fully.
Theyre a means to a sickening end.
As he refuses to listen to vulnerable women opening up to him, viewers hear their stories.
Akins depiction of these lost souls captures the melancholy and danger of that rootless existence.
Petra is introduced as an apathetic student struggling to meet the bare minimum.
In Honkas fantasies, she is both butcher and prey to be butchered.
She cuts into meat the way Honka dismembers the bodies of his victims and chews with coquettish playfulness.
She pouts sensually into the camera when he imagines her strung up like a slab of meat.
Fatih Akinplays against long-established expectations for those brave enough to bear it.
The Golden Gloveis available to watch on Tubi in the U.S.
Watch on Tubi.
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