The Knick
2014
Original language: English
- drama
The story
Set in downtown New York in 1900, 'The Knick' is centered on the Knickerbocker Hospital and its staff, notably Dr. John Thackery, the hospital's brilliant chief surgeon who pushes medicine's boundaries, pioneering new procedures despite a severe drug addiction.
What it’s like
Grainy, restless handheld camera moves through a Lower East Side hospital lit by gaslight and the first electric bulbs, with interiors washed in amber and dirty ochre that give way to clinical white in the operating theatre. Cliff Martinez's score lays synthetic, pulsing electronics over 1900 scenes, a deliberate anachronism that keeps the nerves on edge. The mood is feverish, abrasive and claustrophobic, with the grime of tenements and the sweat of crowded wards never far off. Surgery is shown in unflinching, bloody detail, and addiction, racism and casual cruelty recur, so this is not gentle viewing, though the violence is mostly clinical rather than gratuitous, and sex appears in frank but brief scenes. Its arcs follow brilliant, damaged people pushing against the limits of their own bodies and their profession, with a slow-burning tension rather than swift plot turns. Best suited to a late evening alone with the sound up, for viewers who enjoy period drama with a sharp, modern edge and a tolerance for bleakness and bodily detail.
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