Sundance Film Festival: Swedish 'Knocking' is an effective paranoid thriller

Knocking
3.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: Frida Kempff
Writer: Emma Broström, Johan Theorin
Starring: Cecilia Milocco, Albin Grenholm, Ville Virtanen |
Genre: Thriller

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Molly has just been released from a psychiatric ward after suffering a traumatic experience. She’s placed in an apartment where it is hoped that she will slowly transition back into day-to-day life.

Molly tries to rest but it is a hot summer and there’s someone knocking against the floor. Or the wall? Sometimes a woman is screaming. It’s coming from somewhere above. Is it morse code? The neighbors can’t hear it. Or so they claim.

“Knocking” is a film about a fractured psyche, a paranoia that might be a premonition. Molly isn’t exactly the most reliable of guides as the audience follows her through a maze and down into the dark. She can see things too. Things that are unlikely to be real. They are seen anyway.

Cecilia Milocco gives a fantastic performance as Molly. It is frustratingly perfect. You feel Molly’s anxiety. You like her and her shiny dreams of being with a lover on the beach. You don’t know if you’d rather she be insane or correct in thinking a woman is in danger.

While there were bits and pieces of “Knocking” that I could predict. Familiar tropes and a cliché or two. At least the ending comes quick, fiery and unexpected. Blink and you might miss it (literally since you’ll likely be reading the subtitles).

A nice, tense slice of cinema.