Knife in the Water - 1962 film review

Knife in the Water was Roman Polanski's first feature film and it earned him an Oscar nomination. The title intrigued me and I decided to take a look at it. I'm glad I did, because although the story is a straightforward one, and it would be a stretch to call this black and white movie a crime film, it's certainly strong on suspense and atmosphere.

Andrzej, a middle-aged sportswriter and his younger wife Krystyna are out driving one day when they come across a young hitch-hiker, whom their car nearly hits. Andrzej starts talking to the young man, whose name we never learn, and offers him a lift. They arrive at a lake where the couple are to go sailing. Andrzej invites the young man to join them, and he accepts.

What follows is a sort of duel of contrasting personalities and lifestyles. Andrzej is a show-off, but perhaps past his prime, and once Kyrstyna puts on her bikini, it's foreseeable that the young man will take an increasing interest in her. He's a free spirit, and the two of them have something in common. But she's become accustomed to the good life.

This is a spare, subtle film, and although you could say that it's slow, and that not much happens, I didn't mind that. The focus is on the quiet interplay of the characters, the shifts of power, the revelations of personality. Overall, this is a film which deserves its reputation and which hasn't suffered too much through the passage of time.

The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski’s film based on the Robert Harris novel The Ghost, is a very enjoyable thriller. Harris is a master of the high concept thriller (I like Enigma best of his earlier books) and this story draws heavily on his interest in the lives and careers of his friends (but are they still friends, after this?) Tony and Cherie Blair.

Ewan McGregor plays a ghost writer who is hired for an enormous fee to do a rush job – sprucing up the memoirs of a recent Prime Minister. He is flown out to meet the great man (played  by the ultra-charismatic Pierce Brosnan), his wife (Olivia Williams) and his sexy aide – and mistress – a role tailor-made for the stunning Kim Cattrall. But his predecessor has died in mysterious circumstances, and soon the plot thickens.

I was surprised that the story moved, for the most part, at a fairly slow pace, but it warms up steadily and develops into a quite gripping story, especially when our hero starts to discover clues to a sinister truth in the manuscript his predecessor was working on at the time of his death.

Tom Wilkinson, appearing late in the movie, plays a key part as a sinister professor with CIA connections, and does his usual impressive job. I was also very taken with Olivia Williams’ subtle portrayal of a wronged but manipulative wife. Overall, a very enjoyable movie which I can recommend.

Chinatown: review

I've watched Roman Polanski's classic movie Chinatown for a third time. Because it’s one of the great crime films, I feel I gain something new each time I see it. It’s not my favourite film by any means, but I certainly admire its technical accomplishment, the superb acting, and Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting theme tune.

Jack Nicholson is terrific as Jake Gittes, a private eye who is hired by a woman who claims that her husband, Hollis Mulwray, is having an affair. Gittes finds Mulwray with a young woman, and discredits him, but then Mulwray’s real wife (played by Faye Dunaway) turns up, and the plot begins to thicken.

The story, set in 1937, involves dirty dealings over water rights in Los Angeles, and was based on a complex and long-running real-life controversy. Polanski himself appears briefly as a vicious gangster, and John Huston is brilliantly effective as Dunaway’s rich and corrupt father.

The script was written by Robert Towne, and it won an Academy Award. The mystery element is more than competently done, but what really marks out Towne’s work is the attention to character and setting, not least the enigmatic backdrop of Chinatown itself in the chilling final scene. Apparently, Towne planned a trilogy featuring Gittes, but it was a long time before the sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakes, appeared, and many people (not me) thought it was a let-down, with the result that the third film in the sequence has never been made.