One of the wrost movies I have ever seen

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

No one has any business calling this a thriller. The tension is rather juvenile and inserting religious imagery or innuendo doesn't make it artful. The subtlety to it is great, but it doesnt make up for the dullness.The cinematography is fantastic. Beautiful framing and angles, and see fun with the black and white. The acting is so-so and the script is sometimes a puzzle.I get it's an early work, but in a year when Hollywood is dropping Lawrence of Arabia and To Kill a Mockingbird among others, this is mostly forgettable.

Roman Polanski's feature film debut is a competently crafted, patiently narrated & finely performed thriller that finds the then-new filmmaker showcasing his firm grip on the storytelling elements as he manages to carve out some tense moments from its simple premise & minimal setting.The story of Knife in the Water follows a middle-aged couple who, while on their way to a sailing trip, encounter a young hitchhiker and invite him along. As the day progresses, tension increases between the two men as they both start vying for the attention of the same woman.Co-written & directed by Roman Polanski (best known for Rosemary's Baby & The Pianist), the majority of Knife in the Water takes place aboard a yacht and is solely focused on its characters, whose arcs are well-written and the rivalry & sexual tension between them is what drives this tale.Camera is manoeuvred in an atypical fashion, employing unconventional angles & close-ups to provide some really interesting shots which in turn complements its black & white photography while sound & score also play their role in creating an atmosphere that brims with uncertainty.Coming to the performances, there are only three cast members in the film, two playing the ageing couple & third being the hitchhiker who goes sailing with them. Each one of them gets sufficient time on screen and they all play their part wisely. Chemistry between the three is even better and it only gets better as plot progresses.On an overall scale, Knife in the Water is a splendid start to Polanski's feature filmmaking career and is a fine exhibition of his innate cinematic knowledge. However, despite getting many things right, it still left me indifferent & cold, for I didn't care much about the characters' fate nor found the premise as compelling as I expected. Experimental & intriguing, Knife in the Water is nonetheless worth a shot.

Roman Polanski's well-acclaimed feature debut, is the only film he has made in his native country Poland. KNIFE IN THE WATER is an intelligent drama exclusively resolves around three people, Andrzej (Niemczyk), his wife Krystyna (Umecka) and an unnamed young man (Malanowicz) with minimal locations.Middle-aged Andrzej, driving with his much younger wife Krystyna on their way to a daily sailing, en route, Andrzej almost knocks off a reckless hitchhiker, outraged, he still agrees to take the stranger, and eventually invites him to join them together for the excursion, here, Polanski hints the motivation, since the young man claims he doesn't have the faintest about sailing and cannot swim at all, as a man twice of his age, Andrzej's intention to teach him some hard lessons and make himself look good (an ego boost is very much needed because things are not very smooth between him and Krystyna as well) is quite obvious.The journey starts in a predicted direction, Andrzej is the self-claimed captain, as if he were a seasoned seafarer, instructs the young man with basic nautical techniques, teases him for his clumsiness, and gets offended when his yarn turns out to be a bore to his guest. The tension between the two men (two generations) is tangible, but out of courtesy and etiquette, it has been buried underneath the surface, there is even a peaceful period when all of them hide inside the sailing boat and spend a night during an unexpected tempest. The next day, what triggers the falling-out is actually very understated, but a sensitive soul may sense Andrzej's jealousy when he wakes up and finds out both Krystyna and the young man have already been staying outside, there is no inappropriate behaviours between them (as far as what Polanski shows us), but the insecurity of his sexual competence (especially facing the competition of a young man's hormones) pesters him even subconsciously, and soon it evolves into a battle of egos.From the young man's angle, he is not a wide-eyed simpleton, before accepting the invitation, he already betrays his complacency by saying that "he knows Andrzej will ask him to go with them", what does it mean? He is astute enough to predict Andrzej's motivation and is willing to take the challenge, with the fringe benefit of experiencing the middle-class luxury. Considering the time of the Communist Poland, it is an invitation rather tempting for a homeless youngster, but his rebellious nature will not yield to Andrzej's overreaching dominion though, he has nothing to lose, and his knife becomes the symbol of the eminent danger. It is understandable Polanski at that age, decides to side with him to outsmart his rival in the end, thanks to a telling lie ("I can't swim").But the film is not just a duel between two men, Krystyna is the key balance, in the beginning, she is introduced as an unassuming wife with an unprepossessing wig and rather dark complexion. And she is extremely disinterested in the bonding-and-clashing process between the two men, maybe she has witnessed such happenings many too often from Andrzej, and being a dab hand in sailing, one assumes she must have undergone the same tutoring from him, thus she simply has lost any interest in participation. But when she gets close the young man, the undercurrent of sexual tension starts to surface, she sultry sex appeal also slowly unfolds, especially after their song-and- poetry exchange inside the boat, she seems to find a kindred spirit. When the accident occurs, her resentment towards Andrzej explodes, and canoodling with a young man becomes her revenge to their insipid marriage (why woman can only use her sexuality as the weapon to rebel? - that's my disagreement with the film). Then the coda, when the interloper disappears, facing the crossroad, she can triumphantly take the moral high ground and keep this incident as a trumping card without the fabrication of a lie, because the egocentric Andrzej will never believe her story, aka. the truth and admit he has been fooled by the young man, a superb ending with perfect ambiguity.KNIFE IN THE WATER is a bracingly competent debut, largely shuns the disadvantages (e.g. self- absorbed pretension or becoming visually dreary) of a 3-way cast and limited settings, also it contains the accomplishment of its Jazz-fused soundtrack. But if one expects it being a taut thriller, it is not at that tempo at all, a solemn character drama is the right categorisation.

According to Chekhov, if you make people aware of a gun early on in a story, sooner or later someone in the story will have to shoot the gun. If the gun is not going to be fired, it should not be in the story. Now, knives are more common than guns, and are used for mundane purposes, such as cutting the meat on one's plate, so the rule that applies to guns cannot automatically be applied to knives. Unless, that is, it is a wicked-looking, gravity-propelled, telescoping knife with a four-inch, locking blade. When you put a knife like that in a story, then Chekhov's law applies to that weapon as well, and it is required that someone get cut with it.But no one does. Not only is this knife referred to in the title, but it is introduced early on and emphasized again and again. The tension is built up as the knife is used to play a dangerous game of stabbing between the fingers of a spread out hand. It is used again when it is several times thrown across the cabin and into the wall. And it is used to cut the halyard when the sailboat runs aground. This would be like having a gun in a movie, with people showing off their marksmanship or using it for some ordinary practical end. It would not satisfy our need to see the gun used for a more deadly purpose, just as these various employments of the knife do not satisfy our expectation that someone will be stabbed with it. But no one is.Finally, Andrzej takes the young man's knife and throws it in the water. The idea is that the young man was very fond of his knife, and Andrzej threw it in the water out of spite. But in that case, the object might just as well have been a harmonica that the young man was fond of. As it is, the fact that no one got stabbed after all the emphasis placed on the knife leaves us disappointed. Roman Polanski, who directed this movie, must have eventually figured this out, which is why Jack Nicholson got his nose sliced in "Chinatown."