Malina (Sina Martens) wakes up in the trunk of a grimy car, unable to move her legs. She also doesn’t remember how she got there. Just before a shadowy figure (Poal Cairo) locks her in and drives the car down the neon-lit, rain-drenched German streets, she manages to secure her smartphone inside the trunk with her. Now locked in a race against time, Malina must decipher how and why she was kidnapped while also asking the scant few people she can reach to help her out of an increasingly dire situation. Trunk: Locked In is simultaneously two contrasting experiences. First and foremost, this is a taut and visceral ride. Daniel Ernst and Tui Lohf’s dynamic cinematography molds the setting into a fascinating visual feast for the eyes. The unusual color palette and shadowy lighting design afford every shot a profound level of tactility and kineticism. When this visual landscape crashes headlong into Jürgen Funk’s crunchy and invasive sound design, it elevates the circumstances to that of pure primal terror. White knuckles come easily and often as each scene reveals Malina’s situation to be far more harrowing than anyone initially comprehends. And considering that 90% of the flick is seemingly spent pressed against Malina’s cheek, the audio/visual results can easily be considered amazing, if not downright masterful.
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