Chinatown (1974)

"Forget it, Marge, it's Chinatown!" - a review by em_fiction

Chinatown is a film-noir about a twisted case being unfolded by private detective Jake Gittes (a handsome Jack Nicholson). At first, it's merely adultery, then it becomes murder, and then before he realises it, Gittes is uncovering a plot involving cheap land and Los Angeles' reservoirs. Of course, no film-noir would be complete without a femme fatale: Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), in this case, the wife of the murder victim; a strange, mild-mannered and utterly mysterious woman.

Some 'classics', like 12 Angry Men (1957), do well with contemporary audiences, while others, like The Third Man (1949), don't do so well. Chinatown is a film that doesn't do so well. It's definitely not one of those universally loved classics like The Shawshank Redemption (1994) which you can immediately sink your teeth into.

A big reason why I believe it's not for everybody is because Chinatown takes its time with everything. I mean, really takes its time. If you're just slightly impatient with your films, then the pace will definitely get to you. It's not really the patience factor, but more the followability factor. It's quite torturous in the fact that you have to bear with the slowness to follow the extremely intricate plot, and if you don't pay full attention, you're basically stuffed in terms of 'getting it', and there goes another classic discarded. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good film, but it's very choosy with its audience.

The great thing about Chinatown is the way it epitomises the perfect film-noir. The plot unfolds with plenty of intrigue and mystery, albeit slowly; the characters all have that cool film-noir-esque shadiness, particularly Nicholson who gives a great performance; there are plenty of twists throughout to keep you watching, although you might have to be a little patient and attentive. The standard film-noir plotting works well, but it definitely takes more than one viewing to fully grasp. The facts aren't purposely obscured into undecipherable crap like a David Lynch film; they're just not obvious and can be missed just like that.

The filmmaking side of Chinatown is practically flawless. It's similar to Mulholland Dr. (2001) in that if you're not up for following the plot, the atmospheric value (maybe not as much the aesthetic value) can act as some sort of consolation. A lot of people will disagree with that. As I said earlier, Jack Nicholson gives a fantastic and memorable performance, developing this very slick detective quality about him. Faye Dunaway is also great (sorry, but that's as elaborate as I'll be), as are the rest of the actors including Roman Polanski who has a short role as a knife-wielding maniac. Chinatown was also his last US based film before that statutory rape stuff — just a little trivia.

I don't want to sound pretentious or anything, but I 'got it' when I first saw it (with plenty of rewinding throughout), and I really did enjoy it. It really is just aimed at big film buff film-noir Roman Polanski-lovin' geeks, but if you insist on watching it and are afraid you won't pick up on everything, there is a huge and lurid twist towards the end which could probably be picked up by a retarded chimpanzee. And I guarantee you it will be enough to satiate any viewer.