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The Golden Glove
Der Goldene Handschuh
2019 110 min Germany, France 18+
★6.2
Crime, Thriller, Horror, Comedy
Director: Fatih Akin
🎭 Based on
«Der goldene Handschuh»
byHeinz Strunk
Trailers
EN
Teaser
Description
A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.
US Gross:
$6,160
Starring
Jonas Dassler
Actor
Vasiliki Georgina Pseimada
Actor
Christine Jensen
Actor
Awards
Berlin International Film Festival 2019
— Golden Bear
Key opinion
The Golden Glove is a polarizing, unflinching portrait of serial killer Fritz Honka that replaces traditional thriller tropes with grueling, naturalist misery. While some critics praise its bold, documentary-like commitment to depicting pure evil and systemic decay, others find the relentless focus on filth and graphic violence to be an exhausting and repulsive experience.
| Acting | Jonas Dassler delivers a transformative, grotesque performance that renders the protagonist utterly repellent. | |
| Production | The production design achieves a meticulous, nauseating level of realism in recreating 1970s Hamburg's squalor. | |
| Direction | Director Fatih Akin adopts a bold, non-judgmental, and clinical approach that avoids traditional serial killer mythologizing or heroization. | |
| Humor | The film’s tone is divisive: viewers oscillate between finding its black humor and absurdism fittingly dark and seeing the film as a pointless, voyeuristic exercise in misery. | |
| Screenplay | The narrative’s lack of traditional backstory or character motivation alienates viewers seeking a conventional crime drama, though admirers argue this absence heightens the film's brutal honesty. |