NEXT DOOR

NEXT DOOR

(a.k.a. NABOER)

John (Kristoffer Joner, SIRKEL) and Ingrid have split up. She visits their top-floor apartment after having moved out, to collect the rest of her belongings. As they talk, John discovers that Ingrid's new boyfriend Ake is waiting downstairs in his car. Suddenly John becomes concerned that Ingrid may have told him why they split ...

The following morning, John returns to his apartment to see a young lady, Anne (Cecilie Mosli, MIRAKEL), standing outside the neighbouring apartment. She asks him to help her move a cabinet. He obliges, asking no questions when she instructs him to place the cabinet in front of her door, preventing the door being opened from the outside. He then meets her flatmate, the edgy Kim (Julia Schacht), and is invited for a glass of wine with them. He leaves shortly after, freaked out by their weird flirtiness and the fact that they seem to know everything about him - his name, that his girlfriend dumped him etc - while he has never seen or heard of either of them before.

Later that day, Anne knocks on John's door and asks him to look after Kim while she goes to the pharmacy. He refuses, but buckles when he learns Kim was recently assaulted and is now scared to leave the apartment - hence the cabinet against the door.

But while Anne is away, Kim starts to play games with John - locking him in her apartment, ringing him on the internal telephone to jibe him, later coming on to him and even punching him in the face repeatedly in an attempt to get him to play rough back.

Succumbing to Kim's wacky seduction, John engages in one of the most consensually violent sex scenes committed to celluloid. But at work the next day, he wears the bruises to remind him of that mad afternoon and becomes increasingly disturbed about the mental state of his mysterious neighbours.

As John starts to delve deeper into their lives, things go from bad to worse for the hapless singleton.

Short at 75 minutes in length, NEXT DOOR is a compact, no-frills exercise in tension with a strong feel of Polanski and Lynch to it. The claustrophobia of John's world as it starts to crumble and the deliberate escalating ambiguity surrounding his mental health are straight out of REPULSION or ROSEMARY'S BABY, while the almost dreamlike oddness of nightmare conversations between John and the two women (not to mention Kim's sudden transformation into psychopath) recall BLUE VELVET.

And the setting - two apartments, and the landing that connects them, can't help but remind one of THE TENANT.

Performances are strong throughout, although top honour surely must go to the sinister "sisters" (Anne says they're sisters, but this is later denied by Kim).

If there's a flaw, it's the script. John's character is not sympathetic enough to totally side with, and the ending is disappointingly predictable. But Pal Sletaune's (YOU REALLY GOT ME) direction is taut and sustains a suitable level of tension throughout, making this an enjoyable and occasionally nasty horror-thriller.

The screener disc from TLA carried a disclaimer pointing out that it did not reflect the quality of the official release that comes out in mid-March. What I saw was essentially the film, with no extras or even a scene-selection menu.

Anyway, shot in film and presented in 2.35:1, NEXT DOOR is a very accomplished-looking feature. Don't let the unknown cast and brief running time put you off, this is an exceptionally well-edited piece with a memorable score and constantly interesting use of camera angles to magnify the growing sense of unease and paranoia.

The screener disc presented the film in Norwegian 2.0 with optional English subtitles.

From what I can gather, TLA's release will include an anamorphic presentation, plus two featurettes and a trailer.

The first Norwegian film to be given an 18 rating in its home country since 1988's HOTEL ST PAULI. Well worth a look upon it's release (12th March).

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by TLA Releasing
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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