Being such a short film, I watched this several times in a row before writing this short comment. I found it better each time and fascinating. Then again, how much can you say about a movie only a minute-and-a-half long? Well, more than I might have originally thought.
This Roman Polanski debut film - his first as a student at the State Film School in Lodz, Poland, was impressive in his use of shadow and light, something he liked doing. I've watched a few of his other very short student films and have seen similar style with the contrasts, shadows, etc. Seeing this, I would think Polanski would have been right at home in the late '40s and early '50s in the film noir era.
My favorite part of this film was when the killer went by the camera and totally blacked out the picture. That was very effective. The actual murder was also odd. I've never a man stabbed in that kind of fashion before on film. The killer also was not the expected, but an older, fat man with a cane! How odd this eerie film is, but a wonderful debut for this controversial filmmaker.
You can see this early Polanski effort on disc number 2 of the "Knife In The Water" DVD.
This Roman Polanski debut film - his first as a student at the State Film School in Lodz, Poland, was impressive in his use of shadow and light, something he liked doing. I've watched a few of his other very short student films and have seen similar style with the contrasts, shadows, etc. Seeing this, I would think Polanski would have been right at home in the late '40s and early '50s in the film noir era.
My favorite part of this film was when the killer went by the camera and totally blacked out the picture. That was very effective. The actual murder was also odd. I've never a man stabbed in that kind of fashion before on film. The killer also was not the expected, but an older, fat man with a cane! How odd this eerie film is, but a wonderful debut for this controversial filmmaker.
You can see this early Polanski effort on disc number 2 of the "Knife In The Water" DVD.