Tribeca Review: Under a Microscope in “The Knife”

By Abe Friedtanzer 

It’s always intriguing to see what projects actors choose when they step behind the camera to direct for the first time. Nnamdi Asomugha has been working behind-the-scenes as an executive producer and producer since Beasts of No Nation, helping bring to life films he’s starring in like Crown Heights and Sylvie’s Love, the latter of which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding TV Movie in 2021. For his debut venture as director, Asomugha has chosen a tense story of crime and policing in America, written by him in conjunction with Mark Duplass…

Chris (Nnamdi Asomugha) walks through his house late at night, checking in on his daughters Ryley (Aiden Price), Kendra (Amari Price), and the baby before getting into bed with his wife Alex (Aja Naomi King), who jokingly tells him that there’s no way they’re going have sex. Things turn much more serious when Chris is awakened by a sound and finds an unknown woman in his home. He blacks out and his family finds him over the woman’s seemingly lifeless body, prompting a phone call to the police and a very uncomfortable and worrisome night once they arrive. 

This film’s title makes reference to the presence of a potentially violent object in the vicinity of this unconscious woman, and whether it was used and how it ended up there are key questions asked by Detective Carlsen (Melissa Leo) as soon as she shows up. While Ryley looks up self-defense on her phone and feels confident that the police will help them, Chris and Alex know better, and are rightly concerned about the optics of a Black man who may have killed a white woman who broke into his house. 

There’s a lot to unpack in this film, which keeps audiences grounded in the moment as it never leaves the house but instead travels with Detective Carlsen as she insists on interrogating each of the family members separately, so sure that they’re not telling the truth that she’s willing to terrorize them at all to prove it. In addition to a prize for Best New Narrative Director, The Knife also picked up a Tribeca mention for cinematographer Alejandro Mejia, praising its “engrossing visual aesthetic choices, its cinematic aliveness and stylistic point of view.” This could easily be a horror movie based on the way things escalate, but it remains levelheaded and inescapable in a far less jump-scare-oriented manner, frightening instead because it shows how misfortune can strike and continue doling out punishment to the (mostly) innocent.

Asomugha is a director to watch, someone who has already made a successful transition from a decade-long football career to the acting world. For his first feature, he doesn’t aim for something large-scale or epic, instead focusing on the turmoil of one family whose happiness could easily be snatched away in a second. It’s an unnerving experience to be sure, certainly even more so for those who can all too well relate to the way in which Chris and his family are seen as suspects rather than victims, with plenty to ponder and a haunting finish to drive it all home.

The Knife makes its world premiere in the US Narrative Competition at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.