"Knife In the Water" Crippled DVD (1 Viewer)

[Pete Lee]

Criterion has disabled the fast forward, rewind, frame-by-frame advance, AND the restart at stop features on this DVD. The ONLY way to advance through the movie without having to sit through the entire movie is to use the chapter stops. Apparently, this was done at the director Roman Polanski's request.

What business is it of Criterion to dictate to me how I should or should not watch a movie? Polanski is entitled to his opinion and preference on how to view this movie but to have it IMPOSED on me? I am absolutely shocked. In the a future where books are digital, will authors dictate that I shall not be allowed to jump to the end? I am absolutely amazed that a company apparently regards me as unfit to choose. If Criterion wants it known how Polanski prefers people to watch the movie, why doesn't it put a note before the movie urging people to watch it that way? But to force me to? The contempt for the moviewatcher underlying this DVD just floors me.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Okay.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

You can pause atleast, right? Not being able to fast-forward and rewind is a pain, but I hope Polanski atleast would allow us to relieve our bladders without having to restart everything.

 

[Jon Robertson]

Yes, the pause is there.

 

[Zak Hepburn]

Just my opinion but I think Polanski would be the best person to dictate the way to watch HIS movie.
I understand where your coming from but the film is a piece of art and should be shown how it's maker intend.

 

[cafink]

I really respect the idea behind the "director's vision" argument but some folks really take it too far. This is ridiculous.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I really respect the idea behind the "director's vision" argument but some folks really take it too far. This is ridiculous.

So, uh, you support the director's decision, but only if it's OK with you? Glad we have that cleared up.

In any case, who watches movies while continually fast-forwarded/rewinding anyway? I suspect it's a rather crafty ploy on Polanski's part to get viewers to sit up and concentrate on the film, rather than watching it in the background or somesuch, missing bits and having to rewind.

 

[Marc Colella]

While this doesn't really bother me (or the lack of chapter stops on some Lynch DVDs), I think this is taking it a bit too far.

So why does the DVD have chapter stops? It's ok to skip to different chapters of the film, but fast-forwarding rewinding is considered something that goes against the director's vision?

Sometimes you just can't make out a line of dialog because of an outside noise, or the actor's accent makes it difficult, etc... should rewinding those 5 seconds be thought of as ruining the vision of the director?

Maybe the director's should try putting a little more faith in their fans. This isn't exactly a mainstream film, and having it in the Criterion Collection should give Polanski an indication that we're talking about more serious film fans anyways.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Yeah, I can sort of understand David Lynch's thinking about no chapter stops, etc., but to disable this stuff and then put in chapter stops seems completely contradictory. There isn't any explanation from Polanski in the booklet or on the disc?

 

[Jeff_HR]

This is just one more step by the content owners to try to completely control the product that we buyers/viewers are "allowed" to watch. :frowning: :frowning:

 

[MartinTeller]

Or obsessive DVD hoarders who just have to own every "spine number". Of course, they probably never take the shrinkwrap off anyway.

 

[PienSavaca]

This is just one more step by the content owners to try to completely control the product that we buyers/viewers are "allowed" to watch.

Unfortunately, EFF (EFF.org) lost their recent legal challenge to allow consumers to buy and use DVD players that circumvent such DVD annoyances as forced trailers, locked audio switching, and that useless region coding.

 

[Pete Lee]

There isn't any explanation from Polanski in the booklet or on the disc?

I got the movie from Netflix so I never saw the insert. I did look at the disc in the store when I was thinking about buying it and I don't remember seeing anything on the packaging to indicate the disc has been produced this way. The least Criterion can do is tell you before you buy it since once you open the DVD, stores won't refund your money if you want to take it back. You could probably convince a store to refund the money, like the way record stores took back copy-protected CDs that didn't have a notice, but it's one more hoop to jump through.

To reiterate Mark Zimmer's point, there's no consistency. My player lets you ressume the movie at the point where you stopped it. Functionally, it's similar to pause except that the image isn't displayed. The disc disables the start-from-stop but lets you pause. Why one but not the other? Only the gods knows...

 

[Jon Robertson]

Sometimes you just can't make out a line of dialog because of an outside noise, or the actor's accent makes it difficult, etc... should rewinding those 5 seconds be thought of as ruining the vision of the director?

Well, luckily, it's a subtitled film.

 

[BruceKimmel]

So, as someone who paid money to see a film in a theater, should you have the right to tell the projectionist to rewind if you missed a line, to fast forward if you want to get to the end faster. I can't recall a movie that I have ever fast reversed or fast forwarded through on DVD - it never would even occur to me to do such a thing. I have paused on rare occasions, otherwise I just watch the movie.

 

[jonathan_little]

Just my opinion but I think Polanski would be the best person to dictate the way to watch HIS movie.

So if there was a feature in DVD's specification that allowed Polanski to set the volume of your home theater to the volume that he wanted HIS film watched at, would you be fine with that too? Even if you were watching it at 2am in an apartment complex?

I can almost understand disabling rewind and fast forward, but the stop button should never be disabled. The only reason to disable the stop button would be to annoy people, and that seems like what Criterion has done with this disc.

 

[Jon Robertson]

Er...no, they haven't.

 

[Haggai]

Can you skip to a specific point on the disc by punching in the exact time in the on-screen DVD controls while you're watching it? That would force you to remember exactly what time slot you want to jump to, which would be a lot more annoying than being able to rewind or FF, but maybe that's a way to get around it.

 

[Pete Lee]

I have paused on rare occasions, otherwise I just watch the movie.

So because you watch the movie this way, everyone else should have to?

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Criterion has disabled the fast forward, rewind, frame-by-frame advance, AND the restart at stop features on this DVD....Apparently, this was done at the director Roman Polanski's request

What a pretentious load of nonsense. Perahps Mr. Polanski should be just glad people still buy his films. It's not everyday someone who has sex with a 13 year old gets to keep their artistic integrity.