FRIGHTFEST 2021: Knocking
FRIGHTFESTThere is a lot to like and appreciate in Frida Kempff's semi-thrilling and immersive drama Knocking, led by a fabulous central performance from actress Cecilia Milocco. However, it is a feature that promises so much – and just about gets over the finishing line – but ultimately falls quite hard on its face before the credits roll.
Kempff's film is crafted like a bottle episode. Tight and immersive sets that craft mood and push all their weight on the shoulders of the central performance in order to elevate character depth. Thankfully, lead actress Cecilia Milocco follows through with a fabulous and tremendous depiction of grief and internal distress. It is a depiction that is formulated in the unspoken and only the suggested. It is here in which Milocco's range shines ever so bright; much of this performance consists in silence, and only a visual motif is utilised with such a technique incorporating the audience and subject as one with tremendous immersion. Granted, Kempff's film does spill its secrets but guards them undeniably well and, to the film’s credit, hits them out of the park with a boisterous and earth-shattering poignancy and a rich tapestry of feeling and thought.
Furthermore, the atmospheric and claustrophobic set design is brilliantly produced to cause a chilling and eerie tension while watching – the production design and the narrative go hand in hand to craft a thrilling ambiguity to proceedings. The cinematography equally adds to the claustrophobic nature with a keen use of close-ups and extreme close-ups to cut out any space and tighten up the imagery.
This is where the trip over the finish line occurs: concerning the film’s portrayal of a mystery, the feature goes down a route in which feels appropriately poignant and dignified to exude a social commentary on the issue of mental health and the lack-thereof of services provided. Knocking provides this sentiment but, ultimately, by the film’s last few seconds, decides on incorporating a twist of sorts.
Throughout Frida Kempff's film, there is a keen sense of ambiguity to the narrative and plot. It plays on the characters’ and audience’s unreliable nature and, throughout, prospers from the tension and immersion factor. Said twist undermines this tension and atmosphere built up, and instead of following through with the ambiguity, it plays its cards and loses it all. It is a drastic and, quite frankly, abysmal decision to undermine the efforts of audience immersion by not following through with the seismic weight of the features tension.
It may sound hyperbolic and exaggerated, but with what is presented in a touching and wonderfully crafted atmospheric feature with a seismic central performance, Knocking trips and falls foul at the last hurdle. While it will not affect the audience, to a degree, it has personally within this review. It can not be helped but to state that such a foul cause quite the upset and makes an inferior thriller from Frida Kempff's film's potential.
