Knife in the Water

At Roman Polanski's request, the DVD remote function allowing viewers to fast-forward or reverse has been disabled for this disc (the chapter steps are still operational), the better to sustain the tension that builds during his 1962 feature debut Knife in the Water, a taut drama unfolding over 24 hours that will change the course of a privileged couple's marriage. En route to their boat for an outing, a sportswriter and his wife pick up a hitchhiker, a handsome and muscular young man whom the husband impulsively invites aboard for a sail. Let "the game" begin, as the older man taunts the younger, trying to show him up in front of his wife ("show us what you're made of"). Potent phallic imagery (the hitchhiker brandishes a rather nasty-looking hunting knife, and at one point shimmies up the ship's mast) heightens the psychological and sexual tension, and as the two men vie for dominance, Polanski alternates in positioning them in foreground close-up. Rife with menace that ultimately explodes into violence, Knife in the Water still cuts deep some 40 years later. Boasting a characteristically sharp digital transfer, this Criterion double-disc set also includes eight of Polanski's short films made between 1957-1962, most notably "The Fat and the Lean," "Two Men and a Wardrobe," and his senior thesis, "When Angels Fall," as well as an interview with Polanski and co-screenwriter Jerzy Skolimowski. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (D. Liebenson)