Though he professes to be a “recovering politician,” Al Gore, the 45th Vice President of the United States, is a name that still might serve to politicize and polarize discussions with people of fervent, long-held beliefs. Especially when those discussions relate to the so-called “hoax” of climate change. Some voters who aren’t fans of Gore and didn’t cast a ballot for him back in the 2000 presidential election could very well reject what he says out-of-hand, simply because they have fixed notions about who he is and what he stands for.

In my experience, I’ve found that seeing a public figure in person (or maybe just seeing a public figure as a person) can have a disarming effect. It’s not so much being starstruck — mooning over a politician the way you would a celebrity — as it is just realizing that the face you saw on TV is a walking, talking human being whose body language you can now observe.

You suddenly find yourself staring at this living caricature whose intentions you must parse. Are they just a traveling salesperson, feeding you a line about something? Or are they a true believer? Do they have their heart in the right place?

“One day a fugitive appears in a village. He enjoys the calm, friendly atmosphere there, but also senses that something is not quite right.”

This is the simple but intriguing setup for the movie Gutland, provided by the official guide to the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival (hereafter referred to as TIFF-JP, in order to differentiate it from the Toronto International Film Festival, where Gutland made its world premiere in September).

Writer-director Govinda Van Maele, who hails from Luxembourg, first emerged on the film festival circuit ten years ago with a short film entitled Josh. It seems only fitting, then, that the winsome gut lord behind The Gaijin Ghost — coincidentally also named Josh — should take a quick stab at reviewing Gutland. The film screened in competition at TIFF-JP yesterday, and it marks a very assured debut feature for Van Maele.