KNIFE IN THE WATER

Sunday, November 16th at 1:00 p.m.
and Monday, November 17th at 7:00 p.m.
Free admission

All ESSENTIAL CINEMA films screen Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and Monday at 7:00 p.m., and admission is FREE!
See classic art films the way they were meant to be seen - on the big screen in glorious new 35 mm prints!

"Roman Polanski's tremendously assured 1962 feature-film debut ... swims with nail-biting tension and innuendo." - Nathan Lee, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Roman Polanski's first feature-length film is a suspenseful three-person chamber drama reminiscent of the work of Ingmar Bergman.
KNIFE IN THE WATER was filmed in the director's native Poland and financed through government subsidies. Although denounced by local authorities as devoid of any significant social or political content, the film caused a minor sensation in the West, was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Film, and even made the cover of Time magazine.
The action takes place almost entirely within the confined setting of a sailboat owned by a wealthy journalist (Leon Niemczyk) and his much younger wife (Jolanta Umecka). On their way to the lake for a weekend of sailing, they are accosted by a young hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz) who jumps in front of their car, forcing them to stop. Annoyed by the youth's daredevil posturing, the journalist nevertheless decides to invite him to join the couple on their boat, initiating a series of playfully competitive games between the two men. Playfulness soon gives way to hostility, however, as each tries to outshine and humiliate the other in front of the woman, who appears to be taking a more than casual interest in her husband's young rival.

(Roman Polanski, 1962, Poland, in Polish with English subtitles, Not Rated)