Empedocles Goes to the Movies and Gets Wet Quiz

Answer: The Shape of Water

"The Shape of Water" (2017) won an Oscar for Best Picture and for Best Director.
Sally Hawkins played Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaning woman working in a top-secret military base in 1962. She discovers an amphibian humanoid (role by Doug Jones) and gradually they develop a close relationship. The base is run by Colonel Strickland (played by Michael Shannon), who fixes a date for killing the creature and performing a vivisection. As Elisa finds out Strickland's intentions, she sets up a rescue plot.
Del Toro also directed "Pacific Rim" (2013). In this movie, Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi play the fighter pilots who must save the world from sea monsters.
"Submarine" (2010) starred Craig Roberts and Sally Hawkins, and was directed by Richard Aoyade. Despite the title, the movie does not play at sea but in and around a high school college. Craig Roberts played a college student and Sally Hawkins played his mother.
"Lady in the Water" (2006) was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starred Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard, with a minor role for Doug Jones. It tells about an apartment janitor meeting a fairy lady swimming in the pool of the apartment building.

Answer: Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov was the actor we were looking for. Ustinov (1921-2004) was a quite versatile entertainer, who took up acting, writing and directing. As an actor, he won an Oscar for his supporting roles in "Spartacus" (1960) and "Topkapi" (1964). He's quite unforgettable as Emperor Nero in "Quo Vadis" (1951).
In "Death on the Nile" (1978) Ustinov played the Belgian retired detective Hercule Poirot, who embarks on a cruise on the Nile with several others. On the cruise, the wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway (played by Lois Chiles) is murdered, and Poirot has to find the murderer among half a dozen of suspects (roles by among others Angela Lansbury, Jane Birkin, Bette Davis and Mia Farrow).
All the other actors have also played the famous Belgian detective. Albert Finney starred in "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974). Kenneth Branagh starred in the remake of 2017. And David Suchet played the role of Poirot for 70 episodes in the TV series "Poirot" between 189 and 2013.
Albert Finney may fit in the quiz' theme with his movie "Big Fish" (2003). David Suchet played in the movie "Flood" (2007) - also with a wet title. And Kenneth Branagh played in 2009 a role in "The Boat that Rocked".

Answer: Sea of Love

"Sea of Love" (1989) starred Al Pacino as Detective Frank Keller, the typical police detective: divorced, depressed, drunk. Keller has to investigate two killings perpetrated on men who had published rhyming ads in the "lonely hearts" section. The evidence in both cases is the advertisement, a cigarette with lipstick on it and some fingerprints - all pointing towards a female serial killer. Keller then publishes a rhyming ad himself, and tries to obtain the fingerprints of the responding girls. One of them, named Helen Cruger (played by Ellen Barkin) acts in a quite suspect way... Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin had also a role in "Ocean's Thirteen", as the intended victims of an elaborate heist. Barkin played a blind teashop owner in "The White River Kid" (1999).

In "The Pirates of Somalia" (2017), Pacino played the one who nudged journalist Jay Bahadur into mingling with Somalian sea pirates.

Answer: David Lean

In "The Bridge on the River Kwai", Alec Guinness played Colonel Nicholson, a British officer in a prisoner of war camp in Burma. The Japanese who guard the POW camp use the British to build a railway bridge. Colonel Nicholson convinces his fellow prisoners to build a fine bridge, although it will serve for Japanese military purposes.
The British David Lean (1908-1991) directed about 20 movies, including the other masterpieces "Dr. Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia".
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) was a British director nicknamed the "Master of Suspense". His movie "Lifeboat" (1944) could perfectly fit into this quiz, but Hitchcock is better known for movies such as "Psycho" (1960), "North by Northwest" (1959) and "The Birds" (1963).
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) is a British director of unusual movies such as "Drowning by Numbers" (1988, which title fits in the quiz' theme) and "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" (1989).
Richard Attenborough (1923-2014) was another famous British director, best known for "Gandhi" (1982) and "A Chorus Line" (1985). His war movie "A Bridge too Far" (1977) might be stretched to fit in this quiz' theme.

Answer: Catherine Zeta Jones

Catherine Zeta Jones and Brad Pitt voiced the roles of the protagonists in "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas". In this animated movie that combines stories from "1001 Nights" and Greek myth, Sinbad has to retrieve the Book of Peace stolen by Eris, the Greek goddess of discord (voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer). Queen Latifah created the part of Ellie in "Ice Age : The Meltdown" (2006) and continued voicing this character in three later "Ice Age" movies. Kelly Sheridan voiced the title character in "Barbie and the Swan Lake", where the popular doll Barbie is offered a role in Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake". Kirsten Bell voiced princess Anna in "Frozen" (2013) and "Frozen II" (2019).

Answer: Casey Affleck

"Manchester by the Sea" is the town in Massachusetts where the following story develops. When his brother suddenly dies, a lonesome handyman (Lee Chandler, played by Casey Affleck) is appointed the guardian of his 16-year old nephew. But there is a secret reason why Lee is a loner and prefers staying far from Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Casey Affleck (born 1975) is Ben's younger brother. Casey's first adult movie was "To Die For" (1995). His best known movies before "Manchester by the Sea" include "Gone Baby Gone" (2007) and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007).
Matt Damon was in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) and is best known for his work in the "Jason Bourne" franchise. Anthony Quinn has starred in many films, including "The Old Man and the Sea" (1990) - a remake of the 1958 movie starring Spencer Tracy. David Niven played in several movies suitable for this quiz, among which "The Extraordinary Seaman" (1969).

Answer: Roman Polanski

If I told you the original title was "Noz w wodzie" and the three roles were played by Leon Niemczik (as Andrzej), Jolanta Umecka (Krystyna) and Zygmunt Malanowicz (a young hitchhiker), you'd probably try to identify the Polish director among the quartet.
Indeed: this movie was an early production by Roman Polanski (born 1933). Polanski started his career in 1955 with a number of short movies he directed while still studying cinematography. "Knife in the Water" was his first full-feature film. It tells about the estranged husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna, who pick up a hitchhiker when they are driving to a lake for a sailing trip. The tension between the three characters grows...
Polanski would gain fame with movies such as "Repulsion" (1965), "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), "Chinatown" (1974) and "Bitter Moon" (1992).
Bertolucci (1941-2018) is best known for movies such as "Last Tango in Paris" (1972) and "The Last Emperor" (1987). I chose to include this Italian director for his short documentary "Il canale" (1966).
The French director Jean-Luc Godard (born 1930) is best known for his movie "A bout de souffle" (1960, "Breathless"). His 1990 movie "Nouvelle Vague" ("New Wave") comes into mind for this quiz' theme.
The Japanese director Shohei Imamura (1926-2006) is best known for his movie "Unagi" (1997, "The Eel") about a murder convict who talks almost only to his pet eel.

Answer: Meryl Streep

"The River Wild" (1994) told the story of Gail Hartman, an experienced rafter, who meets a pair of thugs. Most of the action is set on the river where Gail normally teaches rafting.
Meryl Streep was born in 1949. She debuted on the stage in Broadway, but turned to movies in 1977. Her breakthrough roles were supporting roles in "The Deer Hunter" (1978) and "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). Streep was the first actress to amass 20 Oscar nominations, winning for "Kramer vs Kramer" (1979), "Sophie's Choice" (1982) and "The Iron Lady" (2011).
Geena Davis had the major role in the pirate movie "Cutthroat Island" (1995). Keira Knightley played the role of Elisabeth Swann in several "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Linda Hamilton (best known as Sarah Connor in the "Terminator" franchise) landed a role in "Holy Water" (2009).

Answer: Submarine

"Das Boot" was a German production starring Jurgen Prochnow. The movie is set on a German submarine hunting in the North-Atlantic at the end of 1941. In order to better convey the claustrophobic setting, Petersen filmed with a steady cam in a real-sized model.
Jurgen Prochnow played the captain of the U-86, a submarine that (according to the movie) sinks several British transport ships before being dive-bombed. On Christmas Eve the U-86 is back into port, but an allied bombardment kills several of the officers.
Sergei Eisenstein directed "Bronenosets Potemkin" ("Battleship Potemkin") in 1925.
"PT 109" (1963) tells about the adventures of patrol torpedo boat 109, with the captain John F. Kennedy.
"The African Queen" (1951) was about a riverboat steered by the rude captain Charlie Allnut (played by Humphrey Bogart) and the prudish missionary sister Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn).

Answer: Javier Bardem

"Mar Adentro" is not about a fictive sailor, but about the real Ramon Sampedro. This Spaniard got paralysed after a diving accident, and the movie tells about his efforts (over 28 years) to obtain the right to euthanasia.
Javier Bardem (born 1969) had his first main role in "Jamon, Jamon" in 1992. He rose to fame in 2000 with "Before Night Falls". His role as Anton Chigurh (a hit man with a bad hair day) in "No Country for Old Men" gained him his first Oscar.
Bernard Giraudeau starred in "Gouttes d'eau sur des pierres brūlantes" (2000, "Water Drops on Burning Rocks").
Yul Brynner was the main actor in "Bitka na Neretvi" (1969, "The Battle on the River Neretva").
Yoon-Seok Kim had the main part in "Haemoo" (2014, "Sea Fog").