“Gutland” enhances Govinda Van Maele’ reputation for good, and, essentially, contemporary storytelling, as well as his keen eye for terrific visuals, for which he is here ably assisted by his brother Narayan’s cinematography.

The film opens with a trope most familiar from westerns--a stranger arriving in a small town. Unkempt and alone, Jens (Frederick Lau) walks out of the forest into the farming village of Schandelsmillen, somewhere in the rural Gutland of the title. Of course, the German is eyed equally with suspicion and fascination by the tight-knit Luxembourg community, the majority of whom have lived in the village all of their lives. Only the local brass band conductor Jos (Marco Lorenzini) seems to have lived abroad--in the German industrial town of Karlsruhe, he says. It is he who, for reasons that are at first cryptic, persuades a local farmer (Leo Folschette) to take on Jens, and Jens to accept the offer.

Jens works hard and possesses an enigmatic charm that slowly wins over the villagers, and he is especially admired by some of the local women. In particular he strikes up a passionate relationship with single mother Lucy (Vicky Krieps) and is protective of her eight-year old son. Of course, things are not what they seem in Schandelsmillen, nor is Jens the forlorn drifter he is eager to portray. His presence forces the community to examine its own past, but he too changes in unexpected ways.

The intrigue takes twists and turns and Van Maele introduces elements of the surreal and metaphysical as he slowly ratchets up the tension. One particularly memorable scene will remind audiences of Cary Grant in the cornfields in “North By Northwest”.

But the film is much more than a first-rate rural noir. The director examines the strengths and the failings of small insular communities, the acceptance of strangers (read migrants) and their integration into local culture, and the sense of a need for belonging that Van Maele says marked his own childhood,  

Lau has great screen presence and great screen chemistry with Krieps, who plays her role with natural charm and a healthy dose of guile. Lorenzini is as reliable as ever and lends his character just the right level of ambiguity. Folschette and the rest of the local cast also do the script credit.

“Gutland” is a thoroughly captivating and entertaining thriller that will make a lasting impression on Luxembourg audiences-- both natives and non-Luxembourgers--in particular. It marks the emergence of the most important Luxembourg directing talent since Christophe Wagner. And “Gutland” seems a shoe-in to follow Wagner’s double whammy of “Doudege Wénkel” and “Eng Nei Zäit” by winning the top gong at this year’s Lëtzebuerger Film Präis in October.

“Gutland” is being screened this week with English subtitles at Kinepolis Kirchberg, Kinepolis Belval, Scala Diekirch, Le Paris Bettembourg, Sura Echternach, Prabbeli Wiltz and Orion Troisvierges. For details of screening times, visit the Kinepolis website. Watch the trailer here.