Knife in the water(criterion) question
 

Hey everyone, I recently purchased Knife in the water (criterion collection) on dvd and noticed I couldnt fast forward through the chapters but could only skip to the next chapter. Is this the case for that particular dvd or is mine messed up?

I'm pretty sure I have read that the fast-forward was disabled at Polanski's request. I don't have a link handy but if I find one I will post it, or others may have more info.

edit:
Found one ... there are probably lots more.

http://cinenikki.gamenikki.com/Pages...ionCollection/

I have it at home, but I can't check until later this evening. If someone doesn't post anything by then, I'll give it a spin and let you know.

Wow, that's dumb...

I assume you mean that wanting to fast-forward and/or skip scenes in a well-crafted and deliberately paced highly-acclaimed work of art is dumb.

This sucks! There's nothing I enjoy more at the theater than telling the projectionist to double-time it through those slower sections. Suspense-schmuspense!

So I guess we should try to emulate the whole theatre experience in our home then. Screaming kids, sticky floors, people kicking the back of your seat, etc.

Life gets in the way of watching a film sometimes.
Some people watch part of the film and get interrupted, only to continue the next day. Some missed a piece of dialog or the subtitles go by too quickly - and need to rewind a bit to pick up the piece they missed.

Just because we didn't have the option available to us in the theatres, doesn't mean we shouldn't have it available to us at home.

Ever miss a line of dialog? Ever want to go back and rewatch a particular sequence in this 'work of art'? Ever watch a movie and have the phone ring and/or someone in the next room ask you a question, interrupting the experience? Ever accidentally fall asleep for a minute or two and have to back up?

Watching movies at home is NOT the same as a theater. That's why we have Rew/FF in the first place. There are many uses of these features other than skipping scenes or FF through the 'slow parts'.

I'm all for directors intent and such, but disabling standard home video controls that have been around for decades is pretty silly.

Knife in the Water (Criterion)
 

It was definitely at Polanski's request. I can easily see why after viewing the film. Skipping ahead wouldn't build the tension and suspense as successfully as taking in the film as he intended. We would fail to see how the characters change and why they're motivated to act as they do. Sometimes we're too spoiled with our modern luxuries like fast-forward and chapter skip. Lynch did the same thing with the DVD release of Mulholland Dr. for many of the same reasons, and especially so the viewer wouldn't miss the clues alluded to in the introduction. That, and he didn't want you wearing a laser hole in the disc playing the lesbian scenes over and over.

And Lynch's The Straight Story had no chapters. His reasoning: It's not a book, it isn't meant to be watched in pieces.