Above the Knee review
A compassionate person’s body horror movie.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Streaming exclusively on SCREAMBOX September 9
Above the Knee
Directed by Viljar Bøe
Written by Viljar Bøe
Starring Freddy Singh, Julie Abrahamsen and Louise Waage Anda
Above the Knee Review
You usually have sympathy for the person in a body horror movie who has the horrific things done to their body. Nine times out of ten they’re unwitting participants in whatever is happening to them. Even that outlier time…say…The Fly…where Seth Brudle’s ambition leads him to disaster (and a heel turn) you still feel sorry for the guy. Above the Knee takes it a step further. It doesn’t just want you to have sympathy for its lead character as the film counts down to the body horror that awaits him…it wants you to consider his point of view as he welcomes it. There’s a specific difference to the way that Above the Knee approaches his story that makes the movie as a whole fascinating. By the time the “accident” happens…you’ve had a lot of time to consider whether he’s been right the whole time.
Amir (Freddy Singh) hates his leg. More than that…he wants it removed. He feels…sees even…that it is rotted through. When we view the limb from his perspective it’s a discolored mess that he can pick pieces away from. That isn’t reality, of course. It’s all in his mind. The obvious remedy for this (should he ever choose to share it with someone looking to help him) would be a visit to a psychiatrist. Amir thinks the solution is a bit…bloodier than that. Simply put…he doesn’t want that leg to be a part of him anymore.
When we meet Amir he’s just suffered some kind of tragedy. Above the Knee doesn’t tell us what that is for a while…but it is very much leg related. It explains why he’s been out of work…why his girlfriend Kim (Julie Abrahamsen) treats him with a kid gloves…and why he chooses to remain quiet and distant from those around him. Long story short…he tried to remove the leg while blackout drunk, and no one knows that’s what he was up to. Coming out on the other side has done nothing to dull his belief that he’d be happier…his life would be better…without the leg.
After seeing a story on TV about a woman who wants to be blind…going so far as to live as if she is…Amir becomes obsessed with learning more. His friend Jonas (Viggo Solomon) sets him up with a new job…and he’s already lying his way out of it in the first week so that he can sneak off to meet with this woman. He’s lying to Kim about working overtime too. Amir’s entire life is a lie…except when he’s talking to the woman from the TV, Rikke (Louise Waage Anda). Rikke is the only person he feels like he can be honest with because she is going through the same thing. It’s called Body Integrity Dysmorphia…and Amir dives headfirst into researching it. He arrives at the same conclusion. Life would be better without his leg.
As Amir’s story unfolds, a countdown accompanies each passing day. It tells us how many days are left until “the accident”. Rikke tells Amir that people will never look at him the same if they know he’s deliberately removed his leg. It has to look like an accident, she says. So, we spend two weeks or so watching Amir prepare for an inevitable event…growing more convinced that it may be worth doing.
We never see Amir before his first attempt…but the man we spend time with in Above the Knee is a broken one. His depression and isolation and fear of telling his loved ones what he’s going through makes him a relatable character even if his goal is difficult to connect with. You don’t want to be a party to his self-mutilation. But you don’t want to watch him continue to be miserable, lie to the people who care about him, and waste his life feeling like there’s a simple (if brutal) solution to his problems. Getting him help would be the first idea, of course. But what if that wasn’t on the table? And what if removing the leg would actually make him happy?
Amir sure believes it. His conviction is tested in multiple ways throughout Above the Knee and he only walks away more certain that he has just one path forward. It sounds crazy…but the story starts to make you believe it too. Especially as Amir’s life crumbles even further around him. His lies catch up with him on two fronts. His secrets threaten to expose themselves to the world. The more trapped Amir becomes…the more resolute he is that the only way to free himself is to meet “the accident” he’s planning head on. Or…leg on…off…if you prefer.
Above the Knee is a unique movie. It’s a brisk watch at only 76 minutes…but it benefits from the lack of filler. I’m not certain what you’re supposed to be rooting for as the story unfolds. It’s not presenting a situation with a clear right and wrong…even if it reads that way on paper. Singh’s performance wrings every ounce of compassion for someone planning something genuinely crazy as it can. Anda nails the increasingly murky goals as the one seemingly helpful person in Amir’s life. Abrahamsen and Solomon are terrific as the caring people in Amir’s life trying to figure out how to help someone who is hiding his terrible secret from them. He wants to hurt himself. By the tie Above the Knee reaches the day of “the accident” you might find yourself wanting that for him too. Like I said…it’s a different kind of body horror movie.
Scare Value
I’m not sure if there’s enough “compassionate body horror” movies to fill up a genre label…but Above the Knee certainly fits the bill. It wants us to consider the other side of mutilation in a way that most movies never think to. There’s probably a reason for that. I’m not sure how many times a story like Above the Knee can work. But I am sure that this version of it does.
3.5/5
Above the Knee Link
Streaming on SCREAMBOX
