This will sound seriously contrived but movies lack the ability to completely win you over nowadays. With the rapid progression in various applied technologies like motion capture, a movie watching experience is now judged by the visual spectacle it provides. Which is not all bad. But there used to be a time where the story and screenplay of the movie would stun you. Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski belongs to that era.
The movie was #3 on the Writers’ Guild of America’s list of greatest screenplays ever ( But the extended list also features Being John Malkovich so I don’t particularly subscribe to it). The only other movie I remember distinctly for its script being revered so is Tootsie (another gem that carries ridiculously brilliant acting by one Dustin Hoffman). But that was a comedy. Chinatown is a deliciously layered mystery-thriller. I have not watched many great films belonging to this genre. Alfred Hitchcock is who I should start with, but I’m putting that off till I’m done with all of Truffaut’s movies. Point being, I think a decent mystery movie supersedes any other genre, any day. And when the ‘whodunit’ is complex, the pay off is just that much more rewarding.
Chinatown is a thriller that reveals itself with masterly finesse. If one were to read it’s effect on an audience on a graph, it would be a line that periodically rises to the height of mountains and once at the peak, carries off from straight from that level. I appreciate fully how difficult it must be to write a screenplay that continually surprises you, but this movie manages it very well.
Chinatown is based partially on the California Water Wars of the 1920s. The original material was redacted for the screen in that the primary motivation for diverting water away from farmers was for the expansion of Los Angeles. The water was channeled elsewhere to drive up land prices. So the movie depicts capitalism at its ugliest. But Polanski reveres his art enough to make it a depiction, not an attack. You see, the capitalist wins here. I shall reveal no more about the movie for I know the value of a good twist. And the climax of the movie twists with a brutality that shocks you into submission.
I expected the entire film to be set in Chinatown in Manhattan but apart from the climax, the place features only in sporadic dialogues by the protagonist – JJ Gittes – referring to a case gone wrong there. And that sets the tone for sort of expectations one might have for happenings in Chinatown. Jack Nicholson plays JJ Gittes with the confident air of a man who has seen a lot of life. So it is more confounding when the events in the story happen to him. I read up the Wikipedia link which said that Robert Townsend (the scriptwriter) wanted a voice-over by the lead while Polanski wanted a straight presentation so the audience found the clues the same time that Gittes did. What does this do? A voice-over would lead to a certain degree of detachment by the protagonist as things would already have happened to him. In other words, it perfectly preserves the shock value.
Nicholson is a powerhouse performer but i hadn’t watched him play ‘normal’ before. God knows he killed it!
I also realized that I prefer the quaint old days of camera dollies to the jarring world of steadycams today. I like Mad Men all the more for the same reason. Chinatown made me see that in its lustrous cinematography. I don’t know if I’m right, but this movie probably initiated the spycam/peephole idea. So when Gittes’s detective character is hidden behind a tree whilst spying on an adulterous couple, the camera is angled between its leaves to suggest a voyeuristic element.
Also, a special mention goes out to the background music composed by Jerry Goldsmith (who also worked on LA Confidential). The main title of the movie is a haunting piece, that goes terrifically with the mise en scene as well as when heard separately.
In conclusion, Chinatown is a movie that challenges and stuns you. Its characters involve you and its ethos intrigues you. To be honest, I cannot imagine a more pristine film. And its just hard to stop gushing about the ending! It wrenches your heart out.
Movies that Move 