Next Door (DVD, 2006)

Well for me this is my first and I enjoyed it very much thanks to my Amazonian friends who had already seen this and recommended it to me. As beautiful as the direction and cinematography is this story revolves around the office employees John (Kristopher Joner), whose girlfriend Ingrid (Anna Bache-Wig) is recently separated from him. This has its already fragile psyche another missed kick. His life still revolves entirely to the woman who left him; withdrawn, he now lives alone on the top floor of a tenement house. His tidy, clean, even sterile housing is a desperate held upright on the contrast of dark labyrinth, which is its soul. Suddenly he meets two mysterious neighbors, which he has never noticed, even though they live right next door. When visiting the two women Anne (Cecilie A. Mosli) and Kim (Julia Schacht), a strange interest in having him appear, he loses more and more in the long, winding corridors of his comfortable environment to a sinking nightmare of sex and violence.

This movie's does have one of the most violent and vile consensual sex scene in movie history, containing a beating that only leads to more arousal. It's pretty ailing stuff, and you'll be just as disturbed as John is when he looks in the mirror afterwards, and sees himself covered in his mishap.... that's not all his. It really is an unsettling moment, and probably the defining one of the film. Julia Schacht and Ceclie Mosli did a great job in their roles even though I don't know much about them.. The lead character of John is not only convincing in the role, but you find yourself as a viewer putting yourself in his shoes. I was very sympathetic with John throughout this film and pretty much had no feelings towards Kim/Anne's except for their maze-like apartment which I fine really cool and something I like to invest in.

Other reviewers had mention the pacing of this film and that too is my only problem with it. Though it's over 70 minutes but somehow manages to drag. Sure, mood permeates most of it, but it doesn't help once you realize that nothing much happens throughout the film. This could've been a great short film. Those who want to sit through it will ultimately be satisfied by the atmosphere, but it will be a little hard at points. The film ends on the interesting note, a nice, mind-bending twist that might be somewhat obvious but is no less effective.