Don Gibson Theater: Film Weekend - Knife in the Water

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH AT 4:00PM

BEST DIRECTOR
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE

BEST FOREIGN FILM
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Recognized for almost five decades as one of the most influential foreign films ever released in the United States, Knife in the Water was director Roman Polanski's first feature film, a three person chamber-drama funded by the Polish government and subsequently denounced by the Ministry of Culture as being "devoid of significant social or political content." It caused such a splash in America that it made the cover of Time Magazine and was broadcast just after its US release by PBS stations to viewers across the country.

EMPIRE MAGAZINE (UK) called it...
One of the greatest directorial debuts in cinema history... Polanski arrived on the scene with an almost super-human knack for tension... though he's made deeper, more ambitious movies, he has never directed another piece as perfect as this miniature.

Voted one of the Top 100 Films of World Cinema... Polanski's only Polish feature has a concise, assured, controlled quality... He spins a tale of three people held up in a small boat into an absurdist black comedy-drama of sexual jealousy and the generation gap. Taught, tense, half tongue in cheek and half powerfully sinister, it's debatable whether Polanski has ever made a better film. And that includes Chinatown.

DEEP FOCUS REVIEWS called it...
A story of limited spaces and intense circumstances... the characters are entirely isolated, not even random extras appear in the background... a simple film about opposing characters forced to confront one another, about establishment battling anti-establishment in an intimate, air-tight setting... Simply a superb thriller.

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER said...
Despite its age, Knife in the Water remains a fresh and compelling cinematic experience... A model of filmmaking economy and a virtual clinic on building a narrative via camera angles and composition.

AMC FILM CRITICS said...
A small but incredibly engaging movie... exceptionally well made for a first film, maybe the best "first" following only Citizen Kane...