Frida Kempff's Knocking is a compact psychological horror film whose slick 74 minute running time feels like the longest breath you will ever hold. Featuring a bravura central performance, uncanny cinematography, and a formidable ambiance of dread, this is an exceptional foray into the dark corners of the mind, dappled with social commentary and compassion for those society tends to ignore.
Molly is released from a psychiatric ward after a mental breakdown in the wake of a personal tragedy. After moving into her new apartment, she begins to hear knocking coming from somewhere above and embarks on a surreal sojourn to find the origin. Comparisons to Gaslight, Repulsion, and Rear Window are inevitable. Emma Brosstrom's script is an adaptation of Johan Theorin's novel. It is essentially a chamber piece with occasional forays into the world outside, but the heart of the narrative is inside Molly's apartment and her fractured mind. Cecilia Milacco's performance as Molly is both a mixture of claustrophobic dread and unrelenting heartbreak. Her ability to maintain calm while a torrent of pain and depression swells within her is admirable and when coupled with unexpected bouts of strength and bravery, the result is a memorable heroine who simply just wants to do the right thing.
The most important aspect of the film is Hannes Krantz's cinematography. Knocking has an almost conspiratorial feel, as the optics are drenched in dark colors that create the typical Swedish crime thriller veneer. However, impressive angles and nauseous closeups bring the viewer directly into Molly's world, a place where everything and nothing are real and everyone she meets could be an angel or a demon. This is a slow burn experience, despite the short running time and it simply would not work without the patiently constructed visuals. What Kempff and her talented crew do is create a prison from the inside out, rather than the reverse. The end result is a memorable thriller that takes the predictabilities that it inherently has and enhances them with artistic talent.
Coming soon to video on demand, Knocking is a story about the terrors of the mind when bereavement takes over. It is also a scathing indictment of how society views those with mental health issues and how the "sane" tend to deny or simply write off the concerns of the mentally ill. While the finale is telegraphed almost instantly, it is the journey that is of import and if approached with this understanding, Knocking will undoubtedly have an impact.
--Kyle Jonathan