Chinatown

Rating:
Summary: Aging Like a Fine Wine
Review: This film, in its entirety, is only getting better with age. For those that have not seen it, that's alright. It's not the catchiest, flashiest cover art at first glance. But just like the film itself, the cover art demands closer inspection. A true classic can truly be determined by the test of time. When I first saw this film I thought it was good, it didn't move me that way it does now. Just after it ended, however, I found myself replaying the scenes in my head, over and over. I must have watched it again within a week or two. Soon after that I bought it, and it is now a film I cherish deeply.
Roman Polanski's cinematic translation of Robert Towne's script is beyond words. Every scene is pristine, but delicate. Every shot intentional for a colorized film noir feel, yet the stylization never feels intrusive.
Jack Nicholson. What can I saw about Jack? One of his best performances- up there with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and About Schmidt.
I love this film, and so will you. If not, give it another chance down the road, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Wheres the rest?
Review: First of all I am a fan of jacks films but there is a difference between a good story and a good movie. This is a good story, and I have stayed interested through the whole thing twice and enjoyed it both times. But there were aspects of the movie which left me a bit empty. This is a good movie for you if you A. are a Jack nicholson fan, or B. are a fan of private dick movies that are a little dry...no punn intended.

p.s youd have to see the movie to understand the unintended punn

Rating:
Summary: Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown.......
Review: Watching Chinatown again recently, it struck me that it is just about perfect. All the elements of film-making were performed here at an extraordinarily high level, and the result is one of the most satisfying movies ever made. Much imitated, rarely equalled, Chinatown is THE standard against which period mysteries must be measured.

Start with the wonderful script by Robert Towne that borrows from and re-imagines LA history without straying too far from the facts. A convoluted story of local political machinations is also the setting for a murder mystery set amid family secrets and betrayals. His plot, characters and dialogue entertain and intrigue us and the film's brilliant central metaphor, Chinatown, reveals, conceals and resonates long after the credits roll. Great stuff.

Next, people the story with a terrific cast led by a sauve and cynical Jack Nicholson as PI Jake Gittes, who despite his worldliness is in way-over-his-head without knowing it, Faye Dunaway as the fragile femme fatale, Evelyn Mulwray, and John Huston as one of the most memorable villains in moviedom as the rich & powerful, ruthless yet seemingly benign, Noah Cross. The supporting players are equally well-cast.

Then put this story and cast in the hands of a brilliant director with an equally gifted cinematographer, and turn them loose. Roman Polanski was an inspired choice to direct this film, not only because (as mentioned in the retrospective on the DVD) he brought a European sensiblity to this very American story of political & economic intrigue but also because as he had demonstrated in his earlier works (Knife in the Water, Repulsion, etc.) Polanski is adept at creating tension and dread on film. Chinatown's great success is in the atmosphere and tension and ominous feel of foreboding that overlays the film. We, like Jake, don't know where we are going or how these disparate threads of story tie together, but we sense it is dangerous to follow them and that something, unrevealed, is just beyond our grasp. Chinatown succeeds because its mystery is actually mysterious, its story complex, its secrets genuinely surprising.

Finally, art direction, costuming and period detail in Chinatown is beautiful and meticulous. And the music score is so good that it has been imitated many times in Chinatown wannabes.

There have been many attempts to emulate the quality of Chinatown, a few successfully (LA Confidential), many poorly (Mulholland Falls). Chinatown is about as good as Hollywood can do, meeting both the obligations of entertainment while uniting and presenting the various craftsmanship of film-making at such a high standard that it raises the result to the level of art.

This unique confluence of story and talent occurs rarely, but when it clicks, as it did so brilliantly in Chinatown, the result is the masterpiece we all recognized from its initial release. A timeless and indispensible film that would be diminished by any change or subtraction of any piece of its construct, this one should not be missed. A great film

Rating:
Summary: Shadows and Darkness in Daylight
Review: The film's title refers to an area of Los Angeles where private investigator J.J. Gittes (Nicholson) once served as a police officer. It also suggests the difficulties of finding one's way in unfamiliar territory. Directed by Roman Polanski who received (in absentia) an Academy Award in 2003 for his direction of The Pianist, this film seems to have multiple layers of meaning and apparent meaning. Yes, it is well within the noir tradition but it also seems to reflect so much of the social discord during the decade prior to when it was released (1974) even as it examines Los Angeles during the 1930s, amidst the Great Depression but also a time when so many accumulated vast wealth through sometimes questionable business practices. (If I recall correctly, the number of millionaires in the United States quintupled during the decade following the collapse of the stock market in 1929.) By all accounts, Noah Cross (Huston) is an immensely wealthy and power force within the city's business community. For reasons which are revealed in the film, Gittes finds himself in an adversarial relationship with Cross and has little chance of prevailing against him. Now a private investigator, Gittes is retained by Evelyn Mulwray to follow her husband Hollis whose behavior has raised questions and caused her to be concerned. Gittes' involvement with her leads to his conflicts with Cross, for reasons which neither Gittes nor we understand until much later in the film. Polanksi briefly appears in the film (an Hitchcockian touch) as the Man with a Knife...and he uses it. Throughout much of the movie, neither Gittes nor we know what's happening. Individuals as well as circumstances are not what they appear to be. It's as if Gittes and we are being toyed with...a brilliant strategy on Polanski's part to sustain interest with precise pacing while creating tensions and even conflicts whose nature evades understanding. At one point Cross tells Gittes "You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't." He didn't and, at that point, neither did I.

Obviously, this film intrigues me, in part because it frustrates me as I must struggle (as does Gittes) to understand various relationships which may be real or imagined...both by me and by most of those involved. What's with Evelyn Mulwray? What information is she concealing? To what extent (if any) is her husband Hollis involved with Cross? What is her own relationship with Cross? Whom and what does Gittes threaten? Why? (For most of the film, he doesn't know.) I could go on and on about ambiguities. It is paradoxical that so many of its important scenes are bathed by dazzling Southern California sunshine in this prime example of a film noir.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a classic film
Review: Chinatown is by far one of the best films ever made. Jacl Nicholson's character, Jack Gittes,is one of the most memorable characters ever to come out in film. The film is great and the Roman Pulanski does a magnifecent job of capturing 1937 L.A. The films Noir style is amazing and the characters and story are so full of believability you would think this is a documentery.
I think everyone who enjoys movies should purchase this DVD. It is by far the most amazing movie I have ever seen

Rating:
Summary: I finally understand it (mostly)
Review: I saw Chinatown a few times and never quite got what happened. Then a family member began attending a university in LA, and I visited the area in depth for the first time. I finally understood one of the basic plot lines about water acquisition, and I also began to understand the relationship betwen the Los Angles Basin and the San Fernando Valley. A native or resident of the area can appreciate this film even more. Some kind of geographic and historical background is probably essential to truly begin understanding it. The plot itself is already complex and demanding enough.

I rate this film among my top 30 favorite films, including it together with its sequel The Two Jakes as one unit.

Rating:
Summary: Just Spectacular
Review: This movie set standards to the whole movie industry....this trigered L.A. Confidential....and other greats....This movie is a must in a DVD collection....old movies are pretty hard to keep up with if ur a young viewer...put this holds up verryyy welll....nothing boring about this hit!!

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely sterling film
Review: The success of THE PIANIST recalls Roman Polanski's glory days, when in just over a decade he turned out such stunning classics like KNIFE IN WATER, REPULSION, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, ROSEMARY'S BABY, and this film, CHINATOWN. One thing all these films have in common is the great difficulty the main character has in each film in discovering what is appearance and what is reality, perhaps in the end discovering that reality is an illusion. CHINATOWN is a detective film that isn't. In the usual detective film, the gumshoe follows a string of clues and in the end is able to assert order over chaos by "solving" the mystery. In CHINATOWN, on the other hand, Jack Nicholson's J. J. Gittes solves the mystery only to uncover the incomprehensible and the unfathomable. Instead of asserting the primacy of order over chaos, the chaos engulfs him, visually represented by the crowding of Asians around Gittes in the films' closing shot. "Chinatown," where the final shot takes place, becomes a metaphor for the inscrutable and opaque quality of life itself.

This is a meticulously made film, and it is susceptible to analysis at a very deep level. For instance, it isn't accidental that at one point Faye Dunaway tells Nicholson, upon noticing a discoloration in her eye, that it is a flaw in the iris. Later, that is the eye through which she is shot and killed.

The plot is very, very loosely based on the life of William Mulholland, who was responsible for building the viaduct that brought water to LA from Owens Valley. That real life incident took place several decades earlier than the time in which CHINATOWN was set, but with the central role that water has played in the Los Angeles's, the incident was well chosen. The part involving Faye Dunaway and her daughter had, thank god, no counterpart in Mulholland's life.

It is almost impossible to say of an actor like Jack Nicholson that one role is his finest, but one can at least state that his turn as Jake Gittes is one of his very finest performances. His fortitude in the face of moral horror provides the foundation for the narrative, and his collapse upon looking into the heart of the void at the end of the film establishes precisely the right tone. If we weren't ourselves horrified and crushed at the end, we would be merely by gazing into his stunned and bewildered face. Similarly, Faye Dunaway was as good as she would ever be as Evelyn Mulray. John Huston managed to create one of the vilest characters in the history of film, while Roman Polanski himself managed to be one of the scariest. The scene where Polanski cuts Nicholson's nose is rightfully remembered as one of the most vivid in the movies.

Unfortunately, after this film Polanski's string of great films came to an end, those following in the next couple of decades ranging from decent to out and out awful. Hopefully his resurrection with THE PIANIST will signal a return to form of one of the most interesting directors of the 1960s.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest movie of all time,but DVD disappoints just a bit
Review: Since this classic has been reviewed by so many others, I thought I would focus more on the DVD itself. It was released in 1999 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the film but being new to the DVD world, I just purchased it recently.

1) The print is great and the sound crystal clear. Considering I only had a VHS copied from Cinemax over 10 years ago and the commerical ridden version on AMC to tide me over the last few years, it was wonderful to see the film in letterbox format. I originally saw this film in a giant, single screen grand theatre back in 1974, before the attack of the multi-plexes, and watching the DVD on a big-screen tv brought back those memories quickly. All I was missing was the wood-back, poorly cushioned seat. So from that standpoint, the DVD gets 5 stars.

2) Scene selection - Unfortunately, the DVD falls short here. There are only 15 or so scene selections and when the average DVD contains about 2 dozen, I figure somewhere along the way, cost was a factor. I know this is a nit-pick kind of thing but Chinatown is filled with snippets of great scenes and I can't always get to the points I want to without hitting the fast forward button in addition to the skip. I would think just about every "fade to black" occurence, and this movie contains many, could have been a selection. Sorry, as a fan who enjoys just watching some of the classic lines/scenes ("....and I like breathing through it...", "...to tell you the truth, I lied a little..."), I feel shortchanged. Rate 2.5 stars.

3) There is an interview with the three biggest "behind the scenes" participants, producer Robert Evans, writer Robert Towne, and director Roman Polanski. Although there are a few tidbits of fun trivia(the name of the other actress the studio apparently wanted instead of Dunaway, Polanski pointing out an "incorrect technicality" of a scene where Gittes is snapping a picture) the interviews seemed short and fell a little short of my expectations. I guess I was expecting something along the lines of the documentary PBS did years ago about great mystery films. "Chinatown" was dissected and it was much more in depth. For example, something pointed out then that I never noticed and has made me appreciate the film even more over the years was how Polanski shot many scenes from behind Gittes, over his shoulder. The idea was to bring the viewer into the film almost as a character standing behind Gittes. We discover things as he does. The scene where Gittes discovers the body of Ida Sessions was discussed in great detail. To me, this is one of the "little things" that make this film a classic. I imagine there must have been a good reason why none of the actors were part of the interviews. I mean this film was rated number 19 on the AFI greatest films of all time list and you would think someone would appreciate that enough to participate. Dunaway once wrote about about how Nicholson was upset when shooting a scene interfered with him watching a Laker game. I guess I wanted to hear that story verbally. I know, nit-picking again but come on Paramount, dole out a few bucks to round some people up. 3 stars.

Bottom line, this film is still worth the purchase price no matter the shortcomings. After all, the film is what we watch over and over, not the extras. My hope is that with the 30th anniversary quickly approaching and DVD's being embraced by consumers much more now than in 1999, maybe we will get the background documentary and scene selection us "Chinatown junkies" may want to see.

Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC - NICHOLSON SHINES
Review: This is one of the best movies of all time. Jack Nicholson is genetically incapable of a bad performance. Faye Dunaway rocks the house here. Later on she turned to comedy with her great over-the-top portrayal of Mommie Dearest. One of my favorite reviewers (The Grouchy Reviewer, below) is right on. This is so much better than LA Confidential. BTW, how did Kim Basinger get an Oscar for that nothing role in LAC?