- Starring
- Cecilia Milocco, Albin Grenholm, Ville Virtanen
- Writer
- Emma Broström
- Director
- Frida Kempff
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 78 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
The premise of Knocking on paper might be easy to dismiss though suffice it to say that it is something much more than that. Granted, there’s only so much it can do within its very brisk running time but this Swedish psychological horror/thriller covers a decent amount of ground within that time. A stellar portrayal of mental illness, the film succeeds at pulling viewers into its uncomfortable world by creating uneasy ambiance thanks to its set and sound design and claustrophobic cinematography. The film follows a woman named Molly (Milocco) who leaves a psychiatric ward after a nervous breakdown so she’s already not in the best state of mind which would only get worse as she started to hear mysterious knocking sounds in her apartment.
Leaving the circumstances behind Molly’s breakdown a mystery, it’s hard to pinpoint her exact mental state as she desperately just wanted to move on and go back to living her life. This unpredictability factor only helped Knocking as it keeps viewers on the edge of their seats as they are taken on the roller coaster that was her psyche. Being told from Molly’s perspective, it wasn’t always easy to make sense out of what was happening because she didn’t know either. Her investigation into the source of the knocking took her on a harrowing journey that tested her already fragile psyche. Not only was it compelling to watch, it was also heartbreaking because Molly was such an easy character to root for. This wasn’t because she was a particularly deep character (nor was the film for that matter). Rather, it was because of Milocco’s vulnerable powerhouse of a performance as she put all of herself on screen. She was certainly worth the price of admission.
In the end, Knocking is a simple yet powerful character study that is well worth the watch.
still courtesy of Sundance
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
