‘Klokkenluider’: London Review

Dir/scr: Neil Maskell. UK. 2022. 84mins

A nervy soon-to-be whistleblower (Amit Shah) and his wife (Sura Dohnke) hide out behind assumed names in an isolated Belgian holiday rental. A pair of security officers, assigned to protect them, do the bare minimum, while a British newspaper journalist sent to cover the story makes the long drive across rural Belgium, getting progressively more furious with each passing hour. The feature directing debut from actor Neil Maskell has a neat central idea, but it’s a picture which feels like a padded out short film, rather overstretched even at its concise running time.

Hints at, but fails to fully deliver, something disconcertingly chilling and sinister

As an actor, Maskell is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Ben Wheatley (notably Kill List) and Wheatley’s influence is evident throughout this picture, in its simmering sense of barely contained threat, its dark humour and the set-up – a group of strangers uncomfortably forced into proximity in an isolated rural location. Wheatley also serves as an executive producer on the project. But while the picture creates and sustains a degree of tension, it lacks the dramatic smarts and the visceral impact of Wheatley’s work although, following its premiere at the London Film Festival, it could find a home on a streaming platform. The film’s title – ’Klokkenluider’ is Dutch for ‘whistleblower’ – is unusual certainly, but may not be as memorable as it needs to be.

Ewan (Shah) and Silke (Dohnke) have adopted the aliases Mr and Mrs Appleby and are trying to disappear into the background of rural East Flanders. But as suggested by Maskell’s frequent use of overhead drones, hovering like surveillance cameras as the couple take their morning walk, it’s hard to disappear when you have stumbled onto the kind of information that could get you killed. Maskell draws a tantalising veil across what that information actually is: we learn that Ewan works in IT, servicing the very highest level of the British government, and that while running a routine software update, he saw something which has national, possibly global significance. We can see that he is very scared – Shah’s performance is all wide, darting eyes and gangling, anxious movements.

Offering protection, Kevin (Tom Burke) and Glynn (Roger Evans) are a tetchy double act, with Kevin dismissive of his colleague’s capacity to pull off this one, simple contract. It will probably be, says Kevin, the last time that they work together. Even so, they find themselves drinking together, along with their clients, indulging in a long, increasingly strained game of charades. The score and the sound design work together, with scraping, creaking metallic discords, to create a sense of disquiet underneath the wine-fuelled party games.

Ultimately, however, this is a film which runs out of ideas, both in terms of the storyline, and in its directorial approach. The cast might be strong – Burke, in particular, impresses, with an intriguingly shady performance – but there is only so much they can do with a story which hints at, but fails to fully deliver, something disconcertingly chilling and sinister.