Knocking (Knackningar)

 Molly (Cecilia Milocco) is having a rough time of it. After some time institutionalized for an unspecified reason (which one assumes has something to do with the loss of her partner in a mysterious beachside incident) she's let free to go to a small apartment to continue her life.

 The problem is that she doesn't have much of a life to go back to, which, well, doesn't do wonders for her mental state. Neither does a once-in-a-decade heatwave.
 So when she starts hearing knocking sounds (and later cries) coming from one of the apartments on the floor above her and convinces herself that a woman is being tortured, well... you can imagine how well her efforts at investigating that go.

 Knocking is a bleak, slow-burn Swedish psychological thriller that's filmed like a horror movie, a claustrophobic chamber piece that works more as a character study than as any sort of genre exercise because there's just not much to the story besides its deeply empathetic presentation of Molly's character. Everything is filtered through her point of view as she sinks into depression, seems to suffer from delusions, and is treated with varying degrees of wary hostility by others.

 The technical aspects are impeccable: Frida Kempff's direction is assured, with an eye for interesting shots, and the cinematography (by Hannes Krantz) is beautiful. Above all, the film revolves around an incredibly vulnerable performance from Cecilia Milocco, who manages to instill her character with a huge amount of humanity despite the limited range of emotions displayed during the movie. It's got to have been a thankless task, and she does an incredible job.

 There are some stunning images spread throughout the film, but while watching the character is riveting, following the story around her isn't; It's a standard thriller, with no real surprises and a shrug of a 'twist' at the end. It doesn't really do anything wrong, and I liked how it tends to leave things unexplained, but... well, there's just not a lot going on here.
 It's the sort of film I feel I should have liked more than I did, but there's just too little for me to latch onto.