Mimi Cave’s Holland needs a sub-title: I can’t believe it’s not Paul Schrader! It’s not just the way the film immerses itself into the Dutch-American culture of Western Michigan that’s traditionally been Schrader’s territory, but so much of it seems redolent of his primary thematic obsessions. It may even potentially be regarded as a feminist subversion of Schrader’s typical work, with Nicole Kidman’s heroine challenging the “toxic masculinity” (for the lack of a better word) that characterizes so many of his films, being especially reminiscent of Hardcore (1979) in many ways. Unfortunately, the story hangs not on just on a predictable plotline, but it has nothing new or particularly insightful to say about small-town America either. What this movie really needed was a writer of Schrader’s caliber to freshen it up.

The story is set in the real-life city of Holland, Michigan,...