Movie Review – Naboer (Next Door) (2005)

A dark Norwegian horror thriller from deep in Roman Polanski territory…

Protagonist John’s girlfriend, Ingrid, returns to her apartment to get her things while her new boyfriend waits in the car outside… we realize they used to live together and things weren’t going so well and she left… he doesn’t feel very comfortable with her leaving and still thinks he was fine with her, or at least, “he never hurt her”…

Then he meets this mysterious woman in the elevator who turns out to be the neighbor he didn’t know he had.

She lures him into her apartment to help her move a dresser behind the front door. Then one thing leads to another and we’re introduced to another hot girl: her sister, right? They won’t let John back into her apartment that easily. After a couple of glasses of wine, John finds himself trapped inside the neighbor’s apartment. They won’t let him go until he has violent sex with the girl.

A few days later he returns to the girl’s apartment, against his better judgment. However, on her second visit things begin to change. These neighbors seem to know quite a bit about him and Ingrid and what he did to Ingrid…anger seems to be a problem…he is constantly dealing with his anger towards Ingrid and the young lady…and then now there is also a man in the apartment that also faces John head-on… John must face his past and the truth as he tries to find his way through the claustrophobic, endless hallways of his neighbor’s apartment.

Towards the end we know and accept that the apartment stands as a metaphor for his own mind. Through stunning visuals, John is finally forced to face the awful truth about his own life, and we see the real story hidden behind the superficial construction.

A clever exploration of guilty conscience, violence and the way we all justify things and reconstruct reality to our liking until we are confronted with the truth.

Not recommended for those with a weak heart and stomach. But this dark, daring and honest film is worth watching. Warning: Lots of scenes rated R and maybe X. Nudity, violence and everything in between.